LOBAMBA – Yet again, acts of those in authority have been put on the spotlight regarding the implementation of the country’s constitution.
The latest involves the appointment of Members of Parliament to the House of Assembly by the king.
Constitutionally, His Majesty is supposed to appoint 10 MPs into the House to complement the 55 that are elected in the country’s constituencies.
Section 95 of the constitution states that the king, acting in his own discretion, after consulting with any bodies he may deem fit he will appoint not more than 10 members into the House.
Section 95 (2) (a) and (b) specifically states: "The nominated members of the House shall be appointed by the king so that at least half of them are female so as to represent interests, including marginalised groups, not already adequately represented in the House."
However, only two women were named in the list of the 10 appointees announced by Chairman of the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) Chief Gija yesterday. These were Thulile Dladla and Princess Ncengencenge.
Interviewed, Chief Gija said theirs was only to announce the names as supplied by the appointing authority. Asked if there was any explanation given to them regarding the perceived anomaly, he said there was none.
"Presumably, we shall get an explanation in due course should there be any that is forthcoming," said the chairman.
The Co-ordinating Assembly of Non Governmental Organisations (CANGO) expressed its disappointment at the list.
CANGO Information Officer Bongiwe Zwane said they were expecting more since women did not fare well during the electoral process.
"We are hopeful though that there will be more women in Senate," said an optimistic Zwane.
CANGO was one of the organisations pushing the ‘Vote for a woman campaign.’
Constitutionally, the king is expected to appoint 20 Senators, eight of whom are supposed to be female. About 10 more will be nominated by members of the House of Assembly. Half of these should be female.
This follows the appointment of two more women to join Parliament by His Majesty King Mswati III. These are Princess Ncengencenge and Thuli Dladla.
Princess Ncengencenge is a pastor, having been ordained at Jesus Calls Worship Centre in Matsapha in May this year.
Dladla is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Sebenta National Institute.
Seven other female MPs were elected into the house by the electorate, and these include Hlobsile Ndlovu from Pigg's Peak, Esther Dlamini from Mbabane East, Trusty Gina from Nkilongo, Siphiwe Kunene from Mhlume, Nonhlanhla Dlamini from Ludzeludze and Jennifer Shiba from Timphisini.
The appointees were announced by Chairman of the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC), Chief Gija at his offices yesterday afternoon.
Section 81(1) of the national constitution provides that there should be at least 30 percent women representation in Parliament.
Other parliament appointments by the King are on the way in Senate. The King is expected to appoint 20 senators, says section 94(3) of the constitution. At least eight of these shall be women.
The House of Assembly must elect 10 senators, five of whom should be women.
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."
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§ion=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.
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).
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.
