Vuvulane residents have no cause to complain - PS
MBABANE – Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development Clifford Mamba says the residents of Vuvulane, who want local government elections, have no cause to complain at all.
Mamba told the court that the minister of Housing and Urban Development had discretionary powers to decide whether to hold urban government elections or not, and whether to appoint councillors or have them elected.
The PS was responding to an urgent application that was filed by residents of Vuvulane last week. Mamba is also the interim Chairman of Vuvulane Town Board.
Applicants in the matter are Sylvester Dlamini, Thabo Dlamini, Thabo Vilakati and Nkosinathi Maziya.
Others are Hlobsile Ngozo, Luke Shabangu, Ncobile Gumedze, Mfundo Masuku, Sicelo Nene and Nhlanhla Mngometulu.
Respondent in the matter are the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Mamba and Vuvulane Town Board Deputy Chairperson Zandile Tsabedze. Others are Vuvulane Town Board (represented by Town Clerk Melusi Hlanze) and the attorney general.
Compelled
The applicants want the ministry, PS, Tsabedze and the town Board to be ordered and/or compelled and/or directed to take all reasonable steps to ensure that eligible voters under the Vuvulane Town Board elect their own councillors every five-year term with immediate effect.
Mamba told the court the applicants had not shown that they were lawful residents within the Vuvulane urban area, hence entitled to be registered to vote.
The PS said the applicants were not lawfully carrying on business in the area.
Mamba submitted that the applicants, who are demanding voter registration, fell short of the threshold required for an urban government election. He said even if registered, an election could not be held.
He said they acknowledged that the last time Vuvulane elections were held was in 2008, meaning that the issue of urgency in this matter was contentions.
“They did not complain since the end of that five-year term. They have only chosen to approach the court 10 years after their so-called right to vote was curtailed.
“Applicants have always acquiesced in the alleged curtailment of their right to vote in 2012 and 2017, without demur. Having embraced the ministerial decision to appoint councillors since 2012, their claim for the right to vote has suffered peremption,” said Mamba.
The veracity of these allegations is still to be tested in court.
Constitutional
According to the PS, constitutional right to vote unless and until the minister makes provision for an election of councillors by way of legal notice in the government gazette.
He informed the court that there was no law compelling the election of councillors for a town Board. He stated that appointing all the councillors was no breach of law because there was no guarantied right to elect councillors.
The PS further informed the court that a public officer was not ipso facto (by that very fact or act) barred from being a councillor or chairperson of a town Board. He said after all, the management of a local government or authority was the preserve of the ministry whose PS was well-placed to so manage.
He agreed with the applicants that members of staff from Vuvulane Town Board were trained on voter education. According to Mamba, that did not necessarily mean that the town Board would be elected.
“The staff was merely trained so as to assist as electoral officers in the other town Boards or council elections,” said Mamba.
The applicants, Mamba submitted, allegedly misdirected themselves in looking for voter registration centres at Vuvulane without notification of Vuvulane elections.
The PS also told the court that there was no abuse of power in not causing the town Board to be elected as the law allowed for the appointment of same.
“The honourable minister did not say the applicants ought to vote for councillors as of right or that he did not understand why there were no elections for Vuvulane councillors. He only said he did not know the history of Vuvulane as a new minister.
“He undertook to respond after finding out from ministry officials why there are no elections at Vuvulane. Mr Melusi Hlandze, who represented me at that meeting, so confirms,” said the PS.
Registration
Mere residence status, according to Mamba, did not suffice for voter registration, but lawful residence was among the requirements.
“Again, merely being a business person is not enough. You must lawfully carry on business there. This includes valid lease of the premises and a valid business permit from the town Board. The applicants have none such.
“The residential part of Vuvulane urban area is the former VIF houses which were long declared inhabitable and VIF repatriated the land to government through first respondent (ministry). Government has not allowed anyone to occupy that land or dilapidated houses.”
He submitted that the Vuvulane urban area comprised only three ratepayers; Eswatini Water Services Corporation (EWSC), Eswatini Government and SEDCO.
In the circumstances, Mamba submitted, government decided in 2012 that councillors of Vuvulane Town Board shall be henceforth appointed by the ministry as opposed to being elected by mere residents who had no vested interest in the affairs of the local authority.
Violation
The PS said, therefore, the applicants had not clear right to vote and there was no violation of such a right and the question of remedy did not arise at all.
He said there was no question of invoking Section 35(1) of the Constitution as the right to vote fell outside Chapter 3 of same. This application, according to Mamba, could be disposed of without reference to the Bill of Rights but the Urban Government Act.
Principal Crown Counsel Mbuso Dlamini represents the respondents while Derrick Jele of Robinson Bertram appears for the applicant.
Labourer at Vuvulane Labour Offices Sylvester Dlamini told the court that the applicants were some of the eligible voters who were willing to vote in the election of councillors for Vuvulane Town Board.
He said the minister had allegedly called for the registration of voters for all town Boards and town councils in the Kingdom of Eswatini, but the PS Mamba had purportedly refused to have the local government elections for Vuvulane Town Board held.
The reason was that the elections should not be held without any lawful and/or justifiable reason despite written demand. The matter is pending before Judge Ticheme Dlamini.