Swaziland Newsletter No. 784 – 7 July
2023
News from and about Swaziland, compiled by
Global Aktion, Denmark (www.globalaktion.dk)
in collaboration with Swazi Media Commentary (www.swazimedia.blogspot.com),
and sent to all with an interest in Swaziland - free of charge.
Start voter registration afresh – MPs
By Timothy Simelane, Times of
eSwatini, 30 June 2023
LOBAMBA: MPs have taken serious exception to the voters roll for the
General Election, saying names of hundreds of people who registered were
omitted.
The Members of Parliament (MPs) instructed the Minister of Justice and
Constitutional Affairs, Pholile Shakantu, to start the registration process
afresh and issue voter registration cards, which would inspire confidence in
the electorate. The legislators feared that the voters roll was
manipulated to stop some people from winning the elections. They also said the
error would decimate the total number of voters and put the credibility of the
election process at stake.
Most of the legislators also said it was costly for the electorate to
board buses all the way to verify their registration status in the voters roll.
The MPs said this after hearing an update on the electoral process from
Minister Shakantu. The minister had assured them that the validation
process was ongoing, and that errors noted were being rectified accordingly.
She had also informed the MPs that the Elections and Boundaries Commission
(EBC) was committed in delivering an efficient election this year.
To this, MP Robert Magongo punched holes on the registration process,
saying he had discovered that all his children were not appearing on the voters
roll yet they had all registered. “Lolukhetfo lolu lutawonakala (this election
will be in disarray). Why were there no registration cards issued as was the
case previously? Those managing the elections must take a leaf from the team
that was in charge of the process in 2018,” he said. MP Magongo explained
that the errors were an indication that there were clandestine moves to disrupt
the process. “Kucondvwe kuganga la. Some people are not wanted back in
Parliament,” he said. He also wanted to know if there would be an extension of
the validation period.
Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo said if many people were not
appearing in the voters roll, then the whole exercise was in futility. He said
the registration process was founded on assumptions that everyone had a
cellphone, yet this was not the case. He submitted that if the glitches
observed were not rectified soonest, the elections would be a stillborn baby.
“It was wrong to tell emaSwati that they needed phones to receive a sign that
they registered. You had to give every liSwati a phone first before making it a
prerequisite,” he said.
Minister of Agriculture, Jabulani ‘Buy Cash’ Mabuza, who is also Pigg’s
Peak MP, wanted to know if the flaws in the regulations had been stipulated
intentionally or there was an oversight. He said such flaws had brought
confusion to the electorate. He submitted that some voters had been compelled
to travel many kilometres at their cost, just to ascertain if they were
properly registered. He called to question the regulations that barred a
voter from participating in an inkhundla of their choice.
“What if the voter was staying in Mbabane, but recently lost his job and
had to return home in Pigg’s Peak. I don’t understand why such a person is not
allowed to vote in Pigg’s Peak because that is where his home is.” MP Mabuza
also called to question why the EBC did not permit one person to verify names
on behalf of family members or friends. “If workers of Buy Cash want to verify
that they were properly registered, they should simply send one colleague and
give him the names, instead of requiring everyone to go all the way,” he said.
Nkwene MP Vulimpompi Nhleko said he was agitated when he discovered that
his name was missing from the voters roll. “I came close to slapping the clerks
because I assumed they were playing games with me.” Gilgal MP Sandla
Fakudze said: “Hundreds of people who registered are not on the voters roll and
are now out of the country for various reasons. If you require them to come
back to verify the roll, you imply that they are already out of the election
process because they cannot come all the way just to correct the
error.” Mtfongwaneni MP Roy Fanourakis said he was ill-treated by
registration clerks who probed him to establish his identity and origin.
“They asked me where I was born and demanded to see my particulars. I
was not happy at all because they did not do the same to all other voters who
were registering,” he said. He recommended that there be a website which
voters would use to verify their registration status. Ndzingeni MP Lutfo
Dlamini said he was taken aback when one of the clerks in his constituency also
discovered that his own name did not appear in the voters roll. “Someone there
also informed me that he had calculated the number of missing voters’ names and
estimated them at 500.
He reminded the House that elections were a serious political exercise
that should not be tampered with. He also called to question why the EBC was
using foreign registered vehicles, which did not have an EBC emblem. Dlamini
also said he had been informed that everyone who registered during the first
five days of the elections was not on the voters roll. He also suggested that
the voter registration cards should be restored. Dlamini also questioned
why the staff recruited to work in the elections had not been paid. “The EBC
officials have all been paid their salaries, so I do not understand why these
workers are sent on assignment but will be paid at the end. It gets upsetting
when you hear them asking people for money just to buy bread,” he said.
To read more of this report, click here
http://www.times.co.sz/news/140783-start-voter-registration-afresh-%E2%80%93-mps.html
More reports on the
election …
‘Recall Slomoes to
address chaos’
http://new.observer.org.sz/details.php?id=20669
We advised EBC of
possible mix-up – Sionary
http://www.times.co.sz/news/140795-we-advised-ebc-of-possible-mix-up-sionary.html
Cracking
Signs (National
Economic Movement)
https://nationaleconomicmovement.wordpress.com/2023/07/03/cracking-signs/
Elections officers
threaten to quit over pay
http://www.times.co.sz/news/140873-elections-officers-threaten-to-quit-over-pay.html
Elections: is it
organised chaos? (Vusi Sibisi)
http://www.times.co.sz/feature/140797-elections-is-it-organised-chaos.html
Magawugawu
fears Government might declare SWALIMO a terrorist entity ahead of elections,
rushes to release a statement
By
Bongiwe Dlamini, Swaziland News, 4 July, 2023
MBABANE: Mduduzi Magawugawu Simelane, the
President of the Swaziland Liberation Movement (SWALIMO) has rushed to release
a statement, amid fears that the eSwatini Government might declare his
organization a terrorist entity ahead of the Tinkhundla undemocratic elections.
This comes after some suspects allegedly
linked to the Underground Forces incriminated Simelane during police
investigation.
The police are alleged to have found
incriminating evidence against Magawugawu Simelane and some of his family
members, including his ‘son’ Zweli Simelane (not LaZwide’s child) was arrested
in the process.
Police sources told this publication that
the police are also investigating an incest case between incarcerated Zweli
Simelane and Siphofaneni Member of Parliament (MP) Nomalungelo Simelane (LaZwide)
after going through the terrorism suspect phone and downloaded Whatsap messages
between the two.
An incest is a criminal act emerging when
two people who are related are alleged to be and/or to have engaged in sexual
intercourse.
But Simelane who is alleged to be linked
to the Underground Forces blamed other political organizations that they were
working with the government to declare his entity as a terrorist organization.
“We are fully aware that these evil
elements are active around the clock persuading the Swazi Government with
different gimmicks to label SWALIMO as a terrorist organization so that the
movement can be dislodged in its resolution to participate in the upcoming
national elections where we believe that with credible cadres as members of
parliament, we stand a chance of fighting the enemy from within, without a
single drop of blood shed,” reads the statement released by SWALIMO
Spokesperson Thandaza Silolo.
Magawugawu is alleged to have recruited
Thabo Kunene, the incarcerated alleged Commander of the Solidarity Forces
through his “Sabela Uyabizwa” underground operation, however, Kunene later
dumped Simelane forces after the former MP failed to provide food within the
camp.
Other members of the Underground Forces
who resigned from Simelane “Sabela Uyabizwa” include Mlandvo Khumalo and others
who are now incarcerated and believed to be incriminating him, like Thabo
Kunene, Mlandvo later joined the Solidarity Forces.
eSwatini
security forces abduct and torture Communist Party leaders
Morning
Star (UK), 3 July 2023
The Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS)
said today that the country’s security forces abducted and tortured four of its
leaders last week.
The CPS said that national organising
secretary Bafanabakhe Sacolo, head of youth & students commission Kwanele
Fakudze, Simanga Dlamini and Lwazi Maseko were heavily tortured by the Eswatini
authorities before being released later on the day without charge.
In 2018, the country, until then known as
Swaziland, was renamed Eswatini.
In a statement, the CPS said that the
activists were “on their way to attend a court case of comrade Mvuselelo
Mkhabela who was arrested on April 15 2023 for disrupting the sham tinkhundla
civic voter education exercise.”
The day of the abduction, June 29, marked
the second anniversary since the massacre of the people of Swaziland by
security forces in 2021, leading to the death of about 100 unarmed people, the
maiming and injuring of hundreds, and arrest of more than 700 people.
The CPS said: “The regime is targeting CPS
activists to brutalise them with the intention to destroy the party as well as
the struggle for democracy.”
They added: “The Communist Party of
Swaziland demands justice for our comrades and all democracy activists who have
been brutalised by the regime.
“The party will intensify the struggle for
socialism.”
Specific areas, businesses to be preserved for Emaswati
By Silindzelwe Nxumalo and Sifiso Nhlabatsi, eSwatini
Observer, 5 July 2023
Minister of Commerce, Industry
and Trade Manqoba Khumalo has disclosed that the Citizens Economic
Empowerment Bill that has recently been passed into law will be a game changer
for Small, Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
Khumalo, who has been
pushing hard for the Bill to be passed, said it will have a citizens
economic empowerment council, which will issue regulations that would speak to
the type of businesses preserved for Emaswati, what sectors and areas in
the economy, particularly in the outskirts, rural area businesses are preserved
for Emaswati.
He said once it is implemented,
there would be an increase in the number of SMEs in the country and the impact that
they have in the economy, as well as job creation.
The Bill was passed by senators
on Monday. Some of the things that the Bill seeks to do is to promote and
stimulate micro, small and medium enterprises development and growth through
the economic empowerment of citizens owned companies.
The Bill also seeks to promote
gender equality through increasing employment opportunities in -accessing,
owning, managing, controlling and exploiting economic resources.
It will also provide equal
opportunities for citizen-owned companies in accessing and being awarded
procurement contracts and other services from State and private institution.
Khumalo said the Bill which has
been stalled for the past 12 years, sought to promote new investments and
existing ones through joint ventures and partnerships between local and foreign
investors in order to enhance broad-based economic empowerment, and establish a
citizens economic empowerment council and provide for powers and functions of
the council.
To read more of this report, click
here
http://new.observer.org.sz/details.php?id=20696
Protest at Juries
Manufacturing, workers against protracted lay-off period
By: Mandla Zulu, Swaziland Democratic News, 6 July
2023
Nhlangano: The workers at
Juries Manufacturing in Nhlangano have engaged in a sit in protest against the
management’s decision to extend the lay-off period into July while it was
agreed that it would only be 14 days in the month of June 2023.
A lay-off, according to the
source, is when the company does not have enough work for everyone employed and
the employer reduces the number of days and hours worked to match the market
demand. In the case of Juries Manufacturing, the employer had committed to a
lay off period of 14 days that is now being prolonged into July, a new month
without formally engaging the workers.
In addition, the lay-offs
affect the workers’ salaries leading to them not being able to meet their basic
needs like payments of rent and buying themselves food. A screenshot of this
month’s payment shows that a worker was paid E492.00 for the fortnight. From
this income, they are expected to pay for food and rent as well as other
obligations. The #SDN
has been informed that the lay-offs did not affect everyone as there are those
who are working normal hours and they have received their E1000.00 salaries.
The protest is about laying off everyone or things being returned to normal
work.
Attempts to get a comment from
the Director that is referred to as Mr. Tim were not successful as he is said to
have travelled.
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