EVEN before they get into the august chamber to commence business, some of the recently elected Members of Parliament have ruled one another “out of order”.
MP under Motjane Inkhundla, Robert Magongo has ruled Nkwene MP Aaron Dladla and Hlane MP Mduduzi Magagula out of order for suggesting that Walter Bennett and Mfomfo Nkambule should be considered for Senate seats.
The two MPs suggested that Bennett is crucial for his “corruption buster” status whilst Nkambule would come in handy in cracking the whip on government on behalf of the people.
“This is wrong. The MPs are out of order. Bennett is not proper to be a senator. Recently, he was at Mgungundlovu on a mission to de-campaign Hlobsile (Ndlovu) and Lutfo (Dlamini) when at the same time the King was honouring him with a medal at Hospital Hill through the Prime Minister. Such a person obviously does not deserve a seat in Senate,” said Magongo.
The football administrator turned pastor further disclosed that Mfomfo Nkambule should not be voted into Senate because of his political affiliations.
“Nkambule publicly declared that he is a member of a political party. Now, one of the duties of legislators is to protect the institution of the monarch. How is Mfomfo going to protect the monarchy when he in a political party?,” he said.
Nkambule said this is the opinion of Magongo and there is nothing he can do about it. “In politics you learn to respect other people’s opinions and if Magongo doesn’t know this, then we must welcome him to politics. I’m however honoured that some MPs recognise that I can make a commendable contribution if elected into senate,” he said.
Bennett was chairing council meeting when called last night.
“Public office is synonymous with good standing, integrity and moral uprightness, but some of the incoming legislators seriously lack in those departments.”
This is the assertion of Mbabane businessperson and former legislator Walter Bennett, who lamented the fact that it was twice as sad that some of the ‘morally deficient legislators to be were police officers, from which the public expect nothing but moral uprightness from them.
“But then again, if the people vote for criminals and fraudsters, so be it, even though this can be blamed on the lack of civic education which would make people value their vote and give it to deserving people,” Bennett averred. The former Senator, well chronicled for his corruption busting antics, stated that a general code of conduct, community expectations and obligations for holding a public office bordered on the will to serve and not to enrich oneself, and the fact that some people who are alleged to have been caught with their hands on the cookie jar have made it into Parliament was worrying.
“Their being nabbed for acts like fraud automatically disqualifies them as they will work to line their pockets, instead of serving the masses who put them into that important office,” he said. Commenting over the overall outcome of the election and the quality of people it produced, Bennett stated that the relation between the voter and the person he votes for was similar to a leader and the led, teacher-student or even the preacher and the congregation.
“This means that anyone going to Parliament must be stain-free, but here we are elevating alleged fraudsters and even convicts to the honourable House. Where is the honour in such honourables,“ he said, wondering whether such a trend was a sign of greater things (in size) to come for the country? Bennett conceded though that the environment in the country was generally corrupt and this had filtered into Parliament as the same scenario had played itself out even in the last Parliament, which had a number of ‘honourable thieves.’
“This is sad because even the genuine legislators will be annihilated by the corrupt ones and their good deeds will be tainted by the general rot that will prevail. It is a well-known fact that some of the campaigns were sponsored by criminals, drug lords and other undesirables. Some of the electorate were coaxed into voting for some people with clothes from the Chinese factories and so forth, what good can come out of such corrupt lot,” he lamented, wondering as to where good values and virtues had vanished to amid our society.
He also noted that the EBC should concede the role money plays in such processes and ensure that genuine Swazis with the interest of the country at heart are not left out just because they do not have money, and are moral enough not accept campaign funds from corrupt funders.
He then slammed the lack of voter education that would be timely, and proper to educate the masses about the importance of their vote, saying it was not worth a loaf of bread or a second hand or reject T-shirt from a Chinese textile firm.
“We also need a fully capacitated and well paid EBC, as on their shoulders rests the quality of the votes. To the masses themselves, it would be wise that they acquaint themselves with Section 63 of the Constitution, which outlines the duties of a responsible citizen. We need all this since in Swaziland we do not have the power of recall. We should get things right from the word go, rather than get stuck with fraudsters and tricksters for a whole half a decade,” he closed.
MGUNGUNDLOVU – The race to Parliament for Minister of Enterprise and Employment Lutfo Dlamini and Regional Development and Youth Affairs Deputy Minister Hlobsile Ndlovu took a twist yesterday as disgruntled residents protested against them.
The residents have deemed the two ministers as ‘unreliable’. The action, which saw a number of residents involved in the separate campaigns saw Interim Mbabane Mayor, Walter Bennett, being roped into the "we do not want Lutfo" protest.
The "we do not want Hlobsile" campaign was sparked after a E200 000 electricity project allegedly involving the deputy minister failed to materialise.
Bennett was apparently called after some felt that the minister may come and win over some of the people. Interesting was that Bennett is not even from the area and his interest raised curiosity to some people. This was during an election campaign by aspiring Member of Parliament, Joseph Nkambule who will be competing against the minister tomorrow in the secondary elections.
Nkambule was voted for at Ndzingeni and has teamed up with Dumsani Maphanga who lost against Lutfo in the previous elections.
It could not be ascertained how Bennett features in the election campaign but he did not disappoint when delivering his speech as he spoke in parables advising the electorate against voting for ‘dishonest’ people into office.
He did not mention who he was referring to but strongly advised the electorate against accepting ‘fat cakes’, t-shirts and bread allegedly donated by businessmen from the Asian community.
About 400 residents braved the cold weather as they waited for four hours for Bennett to arrive and ‘endorse’ their decision after what they described as a failed-drought fight by outgoing MP (Lutfo).
The obviously unhappy residents, who showed great excitement when Bennett arrived, alleged that they were promised water and other projects by Dlamini.
"For five years, we have been promised water and development but nothing happened. We want justice to be done. We want you to intervene in the exercise of water installation in this constituency," said a woman only identified as Make Magagula.
She was randomly chosen to speak on behalf of the residents.
In his submissions, Bennett advised the residents not to be easily convinced by political activists. His speech was received with great applause.
...angry residents accuse Hlobi for stalled E200 000 project
PIGG’S PEAK - A faction of residents from Nginam-advolo marched to the Swaziland Electricity Company (SEC) to state their bitterness regarding an E200 000 worth electricity project, which never materialised.
The angry residents alleged that outgoing MP Ndlovu was involved in the mismanagement of funds.
It was alleged that E195 000 was paid to the electricity company for the project but nothing has been done. Information gathered is that the residents, during the campaign period, allegedly probed the deputy minister about the whereabouts of the money.
"She told us that the money is with the electricity company. However, when we went to check with the company, we were surprised to find that she only paid E169 000 instead of the E195 000," alleged the residents.
They were told to return today so the matter could be discussed at length.
Numerous attempts to draw the deputy minister for comment failed as her phone was not available on the Swazi MTN network.
Minister Lutfo disappointed
MGUNGUNDLOVU – Ndzingeni MP, Lutfo Dlamini expressed disappointment that the campaign by his counterparts had turned out to be a smear campaign against his personality.
The Minister of Enterprise and Employment said he was disappointed even further by the participation of the Mbabane Mayor, Walter Bennett, who does not even belong in the area. "This clearly should tell you that this was a smear campaign and nothing else. I held my own rally where there were people who spoke positively on my behalf but this was sadly not covered. "Unfortunately it would be difficult for me to respond to the allegations today because I was not there and have a number of concerns with regards the actions of some of the people involved," he said.
The minister said personally he had no problem with people lifting his counterpart in Joseph Nkambule as a worthy candidate but had every concern when they drag his name (minister) in the mud.
He said his focus was on the elections tomorrow and has every confidence that people would be the judge at the end of the day.
