NEW HOUSE SPEAKER ELECTED

Swazi News

11 October 2008

Prince Guduza Speaker, MP Esther his Deputy LOBAMBA- Prince Guduza was yesterday re-elected to be the House of Assembly Speaker while Mbabane East MP Esther Dlamini, who is in her second term running in Parliament, was elected his deputy. This was during the 9th Parliament’s first session where members of the House were sworn in. The favourite for the Speaker position and former Deputy Speaker MP Trusty Gina from Nkilongo Inkhundla lost. The election of Prince Guduza, who was neither elected nor appointed for a seat in the House of Assembly, came after a motion that was moved by Sithobelweni MP Patrick Mamba and seconded by MP Henry Dlamini. The constitution allows nomination of a non-member of the House on condition that this individual once served a term or more in Parliament. Prince Guduza was among appointed MPs in the previous Parliament. Infact he has been in Parliament for more than one term. He was once a Cabinet Minister. On the other side of the coin another motion to elect MP Gina as Speaker was moved by Lubulini Member of Parliament and gospel singer of note Timothy Myeni and was seconded by MP Sibongile Hlophe. During the election 63 MPs took part in the voting and Prince Guduza became the eventual winner with 41 votes while MP Gina trailed with 22 votes. Unlike in the tightly contested Speaker’s position, MP Dlamini’s (Esther) election as deputy to Prince Guduza was a one-horse race. It was the only motion and it was unopposed. Earlier at exactly 15 minutes before the voting for the Deputy Speaker, Members of Parliament were found in the Parliament corridors deliberating on who should take the Deputy Speaker’s position following MP Gina’s loss to Prince Guduza. Some advised that she should not stand for election after losing the Speaker’s race and seemingly MP Gina obliged. "We are still trying to talk to MP Gina not to stand for the Deputy Speaker position because it would greatly affect her if she loses," one of the MPs was overheard saying. In his remarks Prince Guduza advised parliamentarians to work as a unit while deliberating on laws that would have a positive influence on government policies. "Everyone working in Parliament should ensure that we work towards curbing corruption," Prince Guduza told the House. In her remarks Deputy Speaker MP Dlamini (Esther) thanked parliamentarians for having confidence in her. Link http://www.times.co.sz/index.php?news=2110
Weekend Observer 11 October 2008 Prince Guduza SPEAKER Stories by Sisho Magagul Prince Guduza has retained the position of Speaker in the House of Assembly. The motion to elect the prince was moved by MP Magwebetane Patrick Mamba, who was seconded by Ntfonjeni MP Henry Dlamini. Prince Guduza beat former speaker Trusty Gina to the position. Gina was nominated by Timothy Myeni, and seconded by MP Siphiwe Kunene. Prince Guduza won the vote with a landslide as he got 41 votes whilst Gina amassed 22 votes. There were 63 legislators present in the House, with the exception of a representative from Kwaluseni where primary elections will be held today. Prince Sihlangusemphi did not show up for unknown reasons. Motivating his motion from the election of Prince Guduza, MP Mamba urged members to vote for the Prince because he apparently had been able to bring the House to order during heated debates. “Prince Guduza is an educated man who has 15 years experience doing Parliament work. In the last Parliament, some debates became heated and emotions flared and Prince Guduza was able to calm the situation and bring order in the House,” he said. He said the prince is a diligent man who is over competent to lead the House and maintain its honourable status. Timothy Myeni, when motivating his motion for the election of Gina into the Speaker position, said Gina is an Iron Lady who has been able to lead the House competently when given the reins during the Speaker’s absence in the last Parliament. “We have seen her handling debates very well. Her election would also indicate to the world that Swaziland recognises women in the country,’ he said. However, Gina lost to the Prince after the vote. Attorney General Majahenkhaba Dlamini led the prince to take the oath at exactly 12:56pm. Mbabane East MP, Esther Dlamini was elected Deputy Speaker of the House. She was nominated by Nkwene MP Aaron Sotja Dladla. She was the only candidate. The house unanimously voted her in. Link http://www.observer.org.sz/weekend/main.php?id=47582&section=mainweek

NOT ENOUGH WOMEN ELECTED

Inter Press Service

1 October 2008

Struggling Against Tradition

Mantoe Phakathi

MBABANE, Oct 1 (IPS) - The crowd ululated, whistled and danced. Their candidate had won! Last Sunday, the people of Mbabane East returned Esther Dlamini to Swaziland's House of Assembly for a second term.

A court-ordered recount of votes found that she had indeed won 1,621 votes out of 2,461 cast in this suburb of Swaziland's capital, and her voters were celebrating in the community hall where the ruling was read.

"They ganged up against me but I won!" exulted the former police officer and mother of five, and ululated in joy. She was referring to her opponents who had challenged the earlier results in court.

Dlamini was one of seven women elected to the 55-member House of Assembly in the polls held on Sep. 19 and 27.

The number does not bring Swaziland even remotely close to the Southern African Development Community target -- approved in August -- of having 50 per cent women in Parliament by 2015.

But it is not bad compared to five women MPs elected in the 2003 elections and just two in 1998.

And it is even better when considering that Swaziland is Africa's last remaining absolute monarchy, where adult women were considered legal minors until a couple of years ago.

One reason behind the increase in women candidates and voters is the vigorous campaign, organised by 11 women's groups under the slogan "Make the Right Choice: Vote for a Woman". Through media and meetings in more than 100 communities, the campaign encouraged women to vote for women and to run for office.

The campaign banked on the unusual fact that more women than men are registered as voters in Swaziland. According to the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC), out of 400,000 eligible voters, 350,780 registered. Of these, about 192,000 are women and 158 760 are men. This should give women an edge if they chose to vote for female candidates.

The campaign attracted strong criticism from traditional leaders in this tiny country of less than a million people. Chiefs from the eastern Shiselweni region, complained loudly that the campaign gave women an unfair advantage.

Chief Dambuza Lukhele argued to the EBC that elections should be based on individual merit and not on group status. Lukhele is a member of the Ludzidzini Council, an advisory body to the powerful Queen Mother, and a former Cabinet Minister.

"This campaign is biased, emotional and provocative, and unhealthy for a country such as Swaziland," Lukhele told IPS. "What if other disadvantaged groups come up and also do their own campaigns?"

Nonhlanhla Dlamini, the gender unit coordinator at the Ministry of Home Affairs, says that a lot that needs to be done to change the prevailing attitude towards women.

"Society is not ready to give women a chance," she told IPS.

Some of the 33 women candidates reported receiving telephone threats from anonymous men who told them to desist from running, revealed Lomcebo Dlamini, coordinator of the rights group Women and Law in Southern Africa-Swaziland (WLSA).

The odds are stacked against women from the very structure of Swaziland's unique Tinkhundla system of governance, where political parties are banned and people elected on individual merit. In theory, any citizen can stand for elections and campaign for a seat in Parliament but women lack the political clout, financial means, understanding of the system and, crucially, the chiefs' approval.

The role of the House of Assembly is not to pass legislation and be a check to the executive, explains WLSA's Dlamini. Rather, MPs are agents of community development. With few women MPS, "women lack the resources to be visible in the communities," she says.

The next hope for Swazi women to increase their representation lies with the arcane system of appointments by the King to the Assembly and by the King and the Assembly to the 50-member Senate.

Dlamini explains that the Constitution calls for 22 women to be appointed to both houses if they do not reach 30 percent representation in the polls.

However, she adds, this does not mean that the Constitution mandates 30 per cent representation in Parliament. The five women elected and the 22 appointments makes 27, out of a total of 106 members of both houses. (The Attorney General is the ex-officio 106th member.)

"This does not give you 30 percent of the total Members of Parliament," says Dlamini.

The next step for the activists is to lobby Parliament to appoint women who are gender champions.

One impressive victory is the election at Ludzeludze constituency in the Manzini region of the outspoken activist Nonhlanhla Dlamini, director of the Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse.

"Besides the fact that society lacks confidence in women leadership, you still get some stereotypes who want to know who is going to take care of domestic responsibilities if women go to Parliament," she told IPS.

The burden of AIDS -- Swaziland has the world's highest seroprevalence rate with about one-third of adults infected -- falls mainly on women as carers of the sick and the orphaned.

Combining work and domestic responsibility, says Dlamini, "is such big challenge such that most of them don't stand for elections because they feel they won't cope."

Link http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=44085

PEOPLE SEEK HANDOUTS FROM NEW MP

Times of Swaziland

30 September 2008

Voters want Esther to pay

MBABANE – Since winning the elections over the weekend, people are flocking to Esther Dlamini’s home in droves.Before 10am yesterday, the Mbabane East MP had already had over 60 visitors (both young and old) who came to ask for her assistance, which is mostly financial.

"Some people are asking me to help them with school fees for their children while the elderly men and women ask me to buy them food.

"I have noticed that poverty is very high here because people do not get food donations from the disaster task team led by Ben Mshamndane Nsibandze, instead they have to fend for themselves," Dlamini noted.

Dlamini said of the 60 people she had met yesterday morning about 20 of them had serious problems which needed her urgent attention.

"Some of these people are on ARVs, but do not have food to eat yet they can’t take the medication on empty stomachs so I had to buy them the food," she said.

The legislator said people began coming to her place as soon as they heard that she had won.

"Some people camped at my home the whole of Saturday night in anticipation of the election results," Dlamini stated.

...she spends E30 000 on campaign

MBABANE – Mbabane East Member of Parliament Esther Dlamini spent E30 000 buying t-shirts for voters during her election campaign.

The legislator, who this past weekend scored a landslide victory over her bitter rival Jabulani Nxumalo and lesser known Eunice Sikhosana, said she bought close to 2000 t-shirts which she distributed amongst the electorate.

Link http://www.times.co.sz/index.php?news=1827

MORE WINNERS AND LOSERS

(There are several reports on this file)

Swazi Observer

29 September 2008

Esther Dlamini says her competitors all ganged-up on her

By Nelsiwe Ndlangamandla

DESPITE winning the elections Esther Dlamini, Mbabane East elect said she had a lot of challenges.

Dlamini said her name was tainted and she had to go to court for something she did not do.

She said when rumours did the rounds that 600 voters were unknown it devastated her.

"This was the hardest time in my life because I did not know any of the things I was accused of."

She said at this point she did not know whether the voters will ever trust her again.

She stated some of the candidates ganged up on her.

"This made this year's election race very challenging for me."

Dlamini said there were a lot of people against her especially in Fonteyn. She quoted an incident where she went there to campaign and was turned back by the community.

"I had bags of mealie meal that day, they told me to go back with them. It was only the elderly who insisted that I should leave the bags and I did it for their sake."

Dlamini said winning the elections meant that people still believed in her and she would continue to serve them.

She said she did not buy any votes but people saw her for the good person she is.

She further invited the other candidates who did not make it to help her in the development of the Mbabane East constituency.

"I know that some people hold on to the past but it is time to move forward and develop our constituency."

Link http://www.observer.org.sz/main.php?id=47236&section=main

Swazi Observer

29 September 2008

I lost because I've got no money - Jabulani

By Nelsiwe Ndlangamandla

Jabulani Nxumalo says he lost the Mbabane East election because he had no money.

He says if he had the money, he would have done what his competitors did - buying voters booze and other things the voters would have wanted.

"I lost the elections, but with dignity - a clean conscience and clean hands because I did not destroy anybody's life by buying them alcohol."

Nxumalo said he believed that Esther Dlamini who beat him in the secondary elections is the right person to respresent the people of Mbabane in Parliament.

"The people have spoken and I believe they chose the right candidate."

Nxumalo said one thing that people forget is that they should do things with the future in mind.

Asked on what he would do to ensure he wins next time he said he would do nothing.

"There is nothing I would do because people need to have parties and booze which destroys their lives."

Nxumalo lost the Mbabane East Member of Parliament seat to Esther Dlamini.

Dlamini is going for her second term in parliament. Dlamini won with 1 621 votes while Nxumalo only had 682 votes.

Link http://www.observer.org.sz/main.php?id=47238&section=main

Swazi Observer

29 September 2008

Jennifer wins elections for timphisini constituency

By Njabulo Dlamini

THE only woman candidate for Timphisini and former civil servant - Jennifer Du Pont-Shiba has won the elections in her constituency.

Her victory brings to seven the number of women MPs in the legislature so far after Esther Dlamini won at Mbabane East over the weekend.

But it looks like the outspoken Du Pont-Shiba, who was nominated at Ludzibini chiefdom but had her victory challenged at the High Court in the primary elections, is once again facing a similar predicament this time round.

No sooner had she been declared the winner that the other candidates protested and raised their displeasure noting she had not produce her letter of resignation from the civil service.

She had to quickly rush home to fetch the letter after Mphucuko Mamba, director of Multi-Care Automobile garage in Manzini - who was placed third - demanded that she produced it.

Eventually the former nurse at Herefords Clinic produced the letter.

During the same election, Nelson Mamba was elected Constituency Headman.

Du Pont amassed 928 votes. Of her victory, Du Pont said it was an exciting moment for her since it meant their (women) numbers in the legislature were increasing hence they would be in a position to lobby for legislation in their favour.

"I was constantly worried that Swaziland was still lagging behind in meeting the SADC quota of 30 % representation at the highest decision making level, parliament.

It pained me to realise that men were outnumbering us in the Legislature and no wonder laws in our favour were not passed.

"I believe together with the other women MPs, we will work together for a common goal of uplifting the fairer sex in all aspects," she said.

She said it was time people, especially women, were empowered to vote for each other since they outnumbered men in terms of population.

Asked what her priorities would be, she simply said that could best be answered by the electorate.

"They requested me to stand for elections and I did; therefore they are better placed to mandate me on what's next now that I have won".

Other women MPs are; Trusty Gina (Nkilongo), Nonhlanhla Dlamini (Ludzeludze), Hlobsile Ndlovu (Pigg's Peak), Thandi Nxumalo (Manzini South), Esther Dlamini (Mbabane East) and Siphiwe Kunene (Mhlume).

Link http://www.observer.org.sz/main.php?id=47239&section=main

Swazi Observer

29 September 2008

Mphucuko loses, so does the community

IT remains to be seen whether Manzini businessman Mphucuko Mamba will continue with his projects now that he lost the elections under Timphisini constituency.

Mamba from Mvembili chiefdom, was helping residents earn a living through projects such as candle and floor polish manufacturing and had indicated this would be taken 'to a higher level'.

He had said his dream was to expand these and further help upgrade Lutheran Farmer's Training Centre - KaGesawu at Ngonini to be a fully fledged training institution in the same mould as Gwamile VOCTIM.

Mamba had said he would work on securing a market for farmers as their produce was rotting in their silos owing to unavailability of a market to sell.

"The other challenge affecting Timphisini constituency is water and I'll need to improve this especially from Msahweni area to Ludzibini chiefdom.

I'll have the ministries of Works and that of Agriculture assist me in realising this dream," Mamba said.

On the question of resources, he said these were plenty but somebody needed to push government into action, which he was willing to do.

However, yesterday his phone was off when attempts were made on his next step following the loss.

He lost to Jennifer Du Pont-Shiba who was the only woman candidate for the MP post in the constituency.

Mamba was third.

It was mainly at Ludzibini chiefdom where the tension was high as Mamba's campaign team was seen monitoring things closely as the other faction also kept an eye on proceedings.

Link http://www.observer.org.sz/main.php?id=47244&section=main