BREAD USED TO BUY VOTES

Times Sunday

12 October 2008

I gave MPs lots of bread—Mr Bread owner

By MAKHOSI MAGONGO

MBABANE— REVEALED: Mister Bread boss Wyne Levendale ‘assisted many’ MPs in their campaign for Parliament elections.

Some of the aspiring MPs were given loads of bread to buy votes, while other sponsorships from Mister Bread came in the form of cash prizes for soccer tournaments hosted by the campaigning nominees.

In return for the favour, they were supposed to elect him to be a senator once they were inside Parliament. But the plot did not go well, as Levendale lost to Tom Mndzebele, who made history by becoming the first visually impaired man to become a senator. Mndzebele got 44 votes while Levendale got 16 after a run off.

On Friday during the selection of senators, Mtsambama MP Bheki ‘No Problem’ Mkhonta nominated Levendale.

MP Mkhonta, a SUB Manager by occupation, yesterday acknowledged that Levendale assisted many MPs during the run down to the elections. He said he was not pleased that his nominee had lost, but was however happy that Mndzebele was eventually successful.

He further explained why he nominated Levendale. He listed several reasons why he wanted Levendale to become a senator.

"The first reason is that he is a Swazi who registered for the elections at Hhukwini area. Electing him would have made us a non-racist country. Our parliament should be balanced along racial lines, as much as we need to have people from the disabled Swazi community represented. I also believe that he has invested a lot of money in Swaziland and is committed to poverty alleviation in that his company employs over 300 people who have dependants.

"I also know for a fact that he assisted a lot of MPs while they were still campaigning for elections. The assistance came in many forms, including prizes for soccer tournaments organised by the MPs. There was free bread provided for the people, which is another way of alleviating poverty," he claimed, adding: "As for soccer, he has sponsored our 1st division league and many other community leagues."

MP Mkhonta said electing Levendale would have encouraged other investors who own businesses in the country. He said Levendale’s election would also be good for his constituency, Mtsambama.

Even though they are rivals in business, Mkhonta says he believes Levendale would have added value to the upper House.

"Nonetheless, I would like to congratulate Mndzebele who was the ultimate winner. I believe he represents a section of our society that has been marginalized over the years," he said.

Levendale said he was not bitter about the loss. "It’s fine, we can only try. At the end of the day, I am happy for the man who eventually won. I have no hard feelings," he said yesterday.

He confirmed that he assisted a lot of MPs when they were still campaigning. He, also, did not disclose any names.

He, however, said donating to impoverished rural areas was his company policy, though the donations were distributed via the then Parliament hopefuls.

He said his interest to become a senator was purely for the development of the country. "The difference between me and some of the people there is that I already have a well paying job, being a senator would have been purely a social responsibility. It was not a way of enriching myself. I wanted to participate in development because I believe Swaziland is a beautiful country that has a lot of potential," he said, adding: "However I believe there are many other people who are there purely for the development of the country, not to enrich themselves."

Chief Gija, the Chairman of the Elections and Boundaries Commission said he had been told that there was a case involving bread that is due to be heard in the high court. He was unsure whether it involved Mr Bread.

He further said donations should not be done with the expectation that there will be a favour returned.

"We have already warned against such donations. Giving is a blessed thing. However, when you give, you should not expect to be given a favour in return," he said. He said people elected into parliament were expected to be honest, and to desist from behaviour that is not in line with the law.

Link http://www.times.co.sz/index.php?news=2142

WHO PAID MOST FOR A SENATE SEAT?

Times of Swaziland

10 October 2008

Comment

Editorial

D-Day: Who paid the most?

Members of Parliament are today expected to elect a Speaker of the House and elect 10 members to serve as senators. A new system has been adopted where each member will have an opportunity to not only submit a candidate’s name, but also have time to motivate the submission.

To expect that this new system could bring about a better selection from the parliamentarians is only wishful thinking.

opportunity

It provides a good opportunity though for us to identify the people who support those we know to have pumped in lots of money for a Speaker and Senate seat.

People have been paid, very well, to get desperate wanna-be-politicians into parliament as demonstrated by the shooting down of MP Nonhlanhla Dlamini when she suggested they look at beefing up the House with professionals who had expertise in fields that were not represented in the House.

She rightly observed the shortage of the legal fraternity yet their job had a lot to do with formulating legislation.

Some MPs also questioned why they, and not the king, had to balance the gender scales because they had a lot of males to bring to parliament; well paying males no doubt.

unhelpful

While the Attorney General was unhelpful with regards to whether they could nominate people who lost in the primary or secondary stages, we would not hesitate to say yes, but not former ministers who have a proven track record of failure.

There are many capable MPs who were robbed by bribing ambitious politicians and therefore careful consideration of the names raised must be made.

As for those who came begging for a job when MPs gathered for a workshop yesterday, well, what can we say; that’s how cheap a parliament seat has become.

Link http://www.times.co.sz/index.php?news=2095

CORRUPTION PROBE INTO POLL WIN

Times of Swaziland

3 October 2008

Anti-Corruption asked to probe MP Thandi’s win

By WELCOME DLAMINI

MBABANE – New Manzini South Member of Parliament Thandi Nxumalo has been reported to the Anti Corruption Commission.

A resident is seeking a probe into her elections win.

Nxumalo, who is a former Senator, has been accused of not being a resident of the area thus did not qualify to stand for elections in the constituency.

The resident of the area has sent the copies of his letter of complaint to other bodies like the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) as well as the media saying Nxumalo should have stood for elections at Manzini South by virtue of her being a resident of Fairview South (Helemisi).

"With due respect I would like to bring to your attention that the new Manzini South MP Thandi Nxumalo is a defaulter at the Manzini South Inkhundla as she is not a resident of Moneni and by the look of things she does not intend to be one," the resident alleges.

The resident alleges that Nxumalo colluded with a certain woman (name withheld) of Moneni to outsmart the voters by renting a one room flat at the anonymous woman’s residence.

"Can you imagine a whole ex-Senator driving a 3 series BMW staying in a one room flat?" the resident wrote.

The resident claims that Nxumalo has never even stayed in this one room flat "and I doubt that she ever set her foot inside this one room flat".

The complainant further claims that Nxumalo should have been a resident of or associated with the area for five years in order to qualify to be a parliamentarian

Contacted on the allegations, MP Nxumalo said the one room flat at Moneni is occupied by one of her school-going children.

She said she belongs to the Manzini South constituency, but refused to elaborate preferring to refer this publication to the area’s elders.

A member of the area’s inner council, Solomon Shekwa defended Nxumalo by stating that she belongs to Manzini South after going through the khonta system.

"She even paid a cow to the area’s traditional authorities as part of the khonta process," Shekwa contended.

...MP’s shack raises eyebrows

MONENI – A shack built on a piece of land owned by MP Thandi Nxumalo has raised eyebrows among the residents.

In the letter of complaint by one of the residents over her elections win, it alleges that she built the shack in this area in order to win a parliament seat.

This is something Nxumalo strongly disputes.

She acknowledges that the structure belongs to her, but said she was in the process of building a proper house there.

She said she would use that structure to put building material there while they are still building.

The much disputed structure is made of planks, sits on top of a hill and is not easily accessible either by foot or when driving.

A person travelling by car has to abandon the vehicle close to a kilometre away and travel on foot to the shack.

difficult

Even then the terrain is not favourable and walking up to the structure is a difficult task.

MP Nxumalo acknowledged the impossible terrain said she also accesses the structure by foot.

"I do not have a car and I always travel on foot when going to the shack but no one lives there at the moment as construction is still ongoing," Nxumalo stated.

Link http://www.times.co.sz/index.php?news=1906

POLL DRIVEN BY STOMACH POLITICS

Times of Swaziland

1 October 2008

Comment

Elections driven by stomach politics

By Vusi Sibisi

A coterie of grovellers, knee-bending sycophants and blind loyalists of the obtaining political hegemony are apt to criticise multi-party democracy as divisive and, therefore, not suited for a homogeneous society like the Kingdom of Eswatini.

As I see it, these supporters and loyalists would rather sing or manufacture non-existent virtues of the oppressive Tinkhundla Political System.

Yet when it comes to the nitty-gritty nothing could be further from the truth as mirrored by the recent legislative elections.

What is emerging from the recent legislative elections is the blinding clarity that the Tinkhundla is neither a political ideology nor a political vehicle through which to spur the political transformation and development of the country but a feedlot for those who excel in the art of praise singing and grovelling.

The new children on the block in the form of elected lawmakers have taken this much further by making the entire exercise one of poverty alleviation at a personal and not at national level.

For as I see it the desperation to get to Parliament is no more driven by a political desire to transform the Swazi polity by enacting laws that would be conducive to speeding the economic development of this country than to get out of the vicious cycle of abject poverty visiting the majority of Swazis even if it is just for five years, which is the term of office of the lawmakers.

That is what emerged when I lobotomised the legislative elections. Is it any wonder a good many cases ended up in court?

As I see it, the face of poverty manifested itself either way - in respect of the contesting candidates as well as the electorate. For the majority of the contesting candidates it did not matter much that they displayed a shocking display of intellectual and political malnutrition when it came to real issues that should be the bread and butter issues of a Parliament but were content on shelling out largesse, including financial payments, to buy the votes of the electorate.

And driven by hunger and poverty, the voters were predictable. They voted for those who paid, fed and promised to extricate them from the vicious cycle of poverty that has been bequeathed them by a largely corrupt political system once they are in Parliament. Which brings me to the question if the Tinkhundla political system can compete with the worst system elsewhere because there can be no worse system than this system.

As I see it, those grovellers, knee-bending sycophants and blind loyalists given to damning multi-party democracy even without any empirical evidence that it is the worst form of democracy, do so to ingratiate themselves to the ruling class.

After all, there are still many vacancies that need to be filled in government starting from the legislature itself up to Cabinet level.

So everyone of the soulless unprincipled and spineless individuals given to praise-singing and grovelling are positioning themselves to be easily visible to government so that they are considered for the vacant positions. Invariably this is irrespective of whether they have the skills, experience and most of all requisite qualifications for the positions they aspire to be appointed into.

After all in Tinkhundla territory if a donkey comes begging for a position it would certainly get it only if it has mastered the art of praise singing, grovelling and occasionally lying about some people.

Marwick you’re made for the task

I have grown to respect veteran lawmaker Marwick Thandukukhanya Khumalo as a matured and astute politician. He has in the recent past surprised many when he openly declared that Tinkhundla had failed and now was the time the country considered taking a new political path without as much as saying in as many words.

He capped his growing stature as head of the African Union Pan African Parliament observer mission during Zimbabwe’s general elections at the end of March.

While the Southern African Development Community (SADC) observer mission prematurely declared those elections free and fair, Marwick and his team were much more objective in their assessment and pronounced them to having not been free and fair, especially after it took a whole month to release results for the presidential elections. By breaking ranks, Marwick departed from the African tradition of hiding the truth behind a façade of unity.

As I see it, Marwick represents a new political breed, a generation that was going to transform Africa and just take it by the scruff of the neck and boot her into the 21st century, as Wole Soyinka rightly articulated, on whose shoulders we can safely entrust the future of this country. But to achieve such a milestone needed a million Marwicks to do this on a continental scale.

As I see it, we need about 30 or so Marwicks in the legislature of this the Kingdom of Eswatini to start the political transformation that he and similarly minded individuals would want to see happen here in order to extricate this country from the many man-made disasters it is in.

This is a challenge to Marwick as an old horse in Parliament to lead from both the front and the back to achieve this most desired political transformation to get this country out of the current rot.

The bones will speak on next PM

The Swazi News, the sister newspaper to this one, last Saturday threw down the gauntlet to anyone who cared to help His Majesty King Mswati III to appoint the new Prime Minister and Cabinet of ministers.

As I see it, that might be a little bit premature. This I have surmised from the fact that we are still awaiting the king to first appoint 10 lawmakers to the House of Assembly and 20 to Senate. Then perhaps can we knuckle down to the job of selecting who is who for whatever position?

Adding to this dilemma, as I see it of course, is the fact that only after the lawmakers have been appointed can we get down to the onerous task of consulting the bones on who should occupy the position of the PM first and foremost.

And it is not an easy task considering that often there are five names in the hat contesting for the position, four of which need to be eliminated from the race by day-break.

And this can take the whole night for the bone throwers to accomplish. Perhaps the Swazi News Editor will extend the time period during which we, the public, can assist in the appointment of the PM and make-up of the Cabinet. After all the PM consults with the king on the composition of the Cabinet.

In the meantime, yours truly can be gathering the best bone throwers for the night of the bones when the new PM would be selected.

Link http://www.times.co.sz/index.php?news=1832