Swazi Observer

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FIRST HOUSE SITTING TODAY

By Mbono Mdluli | 2018-10-16

The House of Assembly is scheduled to sit for the first time today.

The House sitting was called by Clerk to Parliament Ndvuna Dlamini yesterday afternoon, stating that the sitting would be at 10am.

Dlamini did not want to state what the MPs were scheduled to do during the sitting. However, it is widely expected that the legislators will continue with the voting process today.

Last week Thursday, House of Assembly Speaker Petros Mavimbela adjourned the House to allow Parliamentary staff to sort out certain logistics, including ballot papers that had pictures of the 63 nominated Senate hopefuls.

Speaker

The voting was supposed to continue yesterday but could not because of certain administrative issues that had to be sorted out. It was also alleged that the voting had to be postponed because Speaker Petros Mavimbela had to be introduced to His Majesty King Mswati III yesterday before he could carry out his duties. Deputy Speaker Phila Buthelezi is said to have also received blessings from the King.

Mavimbela could not be reached for comment when called yesterday. He had pleaded at first to be called after 45 minutes, but did not respond when called several times after the 45 minutes he had asked for.

Buthelezi could also not be reached for comment as his phone rang unanswered.

The Members of Parliament (MPs) met last week for a first sitting where they were sworn in as newly-elected MPs. After the swearing in, they proceeded with the election of the House of Assembly Speaker, where Mhlambanyatsi MP Petros Mavimbela beat former Speaker Themba Msibi to the position. The election of the Speaker was in accordance with Section 102 (1) of the Constitution.

Winners

Section 102 (1) says “When the House of Assembly first meets after any general election and before it proceeds to the despatch of any other business, it shall elect a person from within or outside the House to be the Speaker of the House of Assembly, in accordance with the Standing Orders.”

The MPs further nominated two MPs for the position of Deputy Speaker. The two MPs were Musa Kunene of Gege and Phila Buthelezi of Matsanjeni North. Buthelezi emerged as a winner of the contest.

The election of Deputy Speaker was in accordance with Section 103 (1) of the Constitution, which says’ “When the House first meets after any general election it shall elect from among the members of the House a person to be Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly.”

Manzini South MP Thandi Nxumalo declined a nomination for the position. She was nominated by Nkilongo MP Timothy Myeni, who stated that Parliament had to be gender sensitive when nominating and electing legislators for certain key positions within Parliament.

The MPs proceeded and nominated people who are supposed to fill the 10 Senate seats. The MPs nominated 63 Senate hopefuls. They nominated 30 females and 33 males. Mavimbela, who was the Speaker at that time, adjourned the House until yesterday where MPs were supposed to proceed with the election of the 10 Senators.

SRA

The Senate nominations were in accordance with Section 94 (2) of the Constitution, which says: “Ten Senators, at least half of whom shall be female, shall be elected by the members of the House in such manner as may be prescribed by or under any law at their first meeting so as to represent a cross−section of the Swazi society.”

However, the election of Senators was indefinitely postponed because of certain administrative problems. Senate hopefuls had to prove that they had indeed cleared their tax debts, if they had any. That was not supposed to be done by them only.

This had to involve other individuals and organisations like the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) and the Swaziland Revenue Authority (SRA).

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