PUDEMO SWAZI ELECTION RALLY

Times of Swaziland

23 June 2008

PUDEMO hold rally at Maseyisini Constituency

BY SIHLE DLAM1NI

NHLANGANO- While the Elections and Boundaries Commission announced the extension of the voters' registration, PUDEMO had other plans as they visited the Maseyisini Constituency to hold a political rally.

The banned political party mobilised the people to boycott the forthcoming general elections.

People's United Democratic Movement Publicity Secretary Zakhele Mabuza said they were mobilising the people to boycott the elections because they regarded it as a sick joke.

' "Elections under the Tinkhundla System of Governance have proved to be a joke because the MPs do not have the power to enact laws that will bring meaningful change in the country. So we don't want to see people rubber-stamping oppression," Mabuza briefly said before the start of the march. Asked why they decided to stage the first rally at Maseyisini, he said it was because their president hails from Makhosini, which is adjacent to Maseyisini. He also said there was a perception that was spread by authorities that if people do not register for election there would be no scholarships for their children and social grants for the elderly.

'This is the beginning of the campaign. We will use whatever means to sabotage the elections because they are not free and fair. This country signed international conventions that it will hold free and fair elections but now that's not the case," said the livid Mabuza.