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MPS WORKING ON MOTION FOR ELECTED GOVT

By MBONO MDLULI | 2021-07-25

The Members of Parliament (MPs) for change are working on moving a motion, calling for the direct election of the government by the people. The motion, according to one of the MPs, might be moved from next week onwards. Siphofaneni MP Mduduzi ‘Gawuzela’ Simelane said they were not sure of the exact date on which they were going to move the motion.

“We are still making some touch-ups on what the motion might need to include. We hope that from next week, the motion will be ready for tabling,” Simelane said. The MP last week told the SADC Troika team that the motion had not been moved, calling for an elected government, but they would do so sooner than later.

Simelane said this matter came inside Parliament as an opinion that substantiated some of the deliberations made in Parliament. Simelane said some MPs were of the view that an elected prime minister was needed to address some of the problems the country was facing. After that, Simelane said Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Themba Masuku, who was the acting prime minister at the time, said the MPs calling for an elected prime minister were taking that from their minds.

They had to prove that what they were saying were indeed the aspirations of Emaswati they represented. The legislator told the Troika team that Masuku demanded minutes to the effect that Emaswati really wanted that. “After that, Emaswati decided to submit petitions to the 59 constituencies and one of the points on all these petitions stated that the people wanted an elected prime minister,” Simelane said.

Petitions He said what began as peaceful submissions of petitions descended to an unsavoury end, as people were banned from submitting the petitions. He said less than a day since the banning of the petitions, chaos erupted at Msunduza in Mbabane, where people decided to burn shops and other properties, after the police refused to allow them to submit petitions. Simelane further said what was unfortunate was that National Commissioner of Police William Tsitsibala Dlamini declared war on Emaswati.

He said what happened the following Saturday at Siphofaneni was very bad, because many properties and trucks were burned. The people were angry because the police did not allow them to submit their petitions. The MP said the submission of petitions was constitutional, but out of nowhere, government decided to stop the delivery of such. He said when residents of Siphofaneni were supposed to deliver their petitions at his constituency, he was put under house arrest by a battalion of police officers.

He said they were trying to stop him from going to the constituency centre to receive the petitions from the Siphofaneni residents. Simelane said he was told by one of the leaders of the police that day that his rights were deprived from him. He could not go to his constituency centre to receive the petitions. He had to be confined to his house and be put under house arrest.

On a YouTube Channel known as Eswatini Media, Simelane mentioned that they had, on June 21, agreed with government that they were going to allow Emaswati to submit petitions to all constituency centres around the country. “I must state that we were in a caucus meeting when we discussed this issue, but I will talk about it because there is nothing hidden. We agreed that we will allow Emaswati to deliver their petitions in all the Tinkhundla centres, before we could analyse the petitions.

We were surprised to wake up and learn that the APM had decided to ban the delivery of petitions,” Simelane was quoted as saying. The three MPs who are calling for an elected government, including the prime minister, are Simelane, as well as Hosea MP Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Ngwemphisi MP Mthandeni Dube. The three MPs have since been joined by two other MPs in their call for change. They include Nkilongo MP Timothy Myeni and Mtsambama MP Simosakhe Shongwe.

The supposed election of this government, including the prime minister, would call for an amendment of Section 67 of the Constitution. Section 67 (1) states that, “The King shall appoint the Prime Minister from among members of the House acting on recommendation of the King’s Advisory Council.” Section 67 (2) says, “The King shall appoint Ministers from both chambers of Parliament on the recommendation of the Prime Minister.”

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