By-elections were a sham – Mphandlana

MBABANE – ,n a )acebook post, long-serving 3eople¶s 8nited 'emocratic Movement 38'EMO member Mphandlana 6hongwe said recent 6iphofaneni by-elections were a cover-up.

6hongwe said the government instituted the by-elections to convince the nation that Tinkhundla 6ystem of *overnment was still strong. He said there was no proven fact that the elections were a success and government should not celebrate.

³One side of the matter is the one portrayed by the EBC, which is that the by-election was a stamp of approval for the Tinkhundla 6ystem.

The chairman of EBC went further to claim that the 6iphofaneni by-election provided a clear answer on the fairness of the monarchical democratic system.

LIES

³

EBC is an acronym for and Boundaries

Elections Commission,

an organisation that is responsible for organising all elections in the country.

6hongwe mentioned that elections under the current system of governance were not guaranteed fairness. He stated that the current system allowed candidates from large constituencies to have advantage over those coming from smaller ones.

He said the difference in numerical strength was unfair to the candidates from smaller imiphakatsi and allowed the populated areas to always produce a member of 3arliament M3 .

RIGGING

³,t is rigging elections if you match people without equal numerical strength. The rules of fair elections borders around numerical strength. According to the tinkhundla doctrine, winners will always come from big imiphakatsi. Although on the face of tinkhundla, this election gives them a leg to stand on, the truth of the matter is that this was not an election but a carnival and festival of misguided people from both sides dancing on the graves of the many people who have died through the system. This was nothing but an abuse of money, time and the people,” said 6hongwe.

He said the 1ational Elections

was not going to be successful. He said they were determined to fight and oppose the elections.

6hongwe said it was unfortunate that some progressives had taken a decision to participate in the elections.

6hongwe said 38'EMO made a resolution to oppose the election and, therefore, all 38'EMO members were aware of their action plan ahead of the election.

He did not state the plan, but mentioned that they were not going to be a part of the elections.

DOOMED

³:e have said it before we do not fight for lower lying fruits instead the higher ones. :e do not want to go back to the tinkhundla elections to choose a prime minister. All we want is a multiparty dispensation where a prime minister will come from the maMority party.

³As things stand, the parliamentary route to democracy looks doomed and a long route. 5emember, even if progressives were to win all the tinkhundla constituencies and collapse 3arliament, the same system will still be ruling the country,” he said.

*overnment 6pokesperson Alpheous 1[umalo, in response to 6hongwe, said the country had

every right to celebrate the success of the elections.

He said 6hongwe was entitled to his opinion, but should also apply his knowledge of the Tinkhundla 6ystem of *overnment to help fellow progressives to come to terms with its e[istence.

³He is entitled to his views and opinions. Mphandlana has been around for far too long to know and understand the value in which has been offered by the tinkhundla democratic system to sustain the peaceful coe[istence and hegemony of ema6wati.

³He is a true veteran of both the politics of the country and he is one of the kingdom¶s highly qualified citizens who unfortunately chose not to remain in class in order to shape the future of the young generation in the field of history.

CELEBRATED

³3eaceful and successful elections are celebrated everywhere in the world. , personally have no doubt that 6hongwe can still use his political and historical prowess and influence to shape the reforms agenda of the progressive movement in a Eswatini which has now deeply stepped into the political backwardness of violence, intimidation and coercion,” he said.

Attempts to get a comment from EBC Communications Officer Mbonisi Bhembe proved futile as his phone was not available.