Voters shun local govt elections registration
MBABANE – Urban residents shunned the registration process of the local government elections. This is the first step of participating in the local government elections. Manzini and Mbabane, the only municipalities that carry the status of a city in Eswatini, have dismally failed to attract a record number of voters. The local government elections were forced to extend the registration period, which was scheduled from Monday, January 17 to February 24, 2023. Former Pigg’s Peak Mayor Victor Rodriguez, said an election, whether local or national, was a personal decision that was influenced by one’s ambitions. He said there were varying reasons why people wanted to participate, and community influencers played a critical role in elections. Rodriquez said the lack of civic education contributed to the low registration by residents.
Rodriguez also disclosed that he felt that the civic education link between the towns and the Elections and Boundary Commission (EBC) would have assisted in getting more people to register. “It would assist a great deal to ensure that a strategy is devised to get both the EBC and the towns to have a massive campaign on the elections,” said Rodriquez.
Rodriquez said since the elections had been aligned as the responsibility of one entity, there should be setting aside of a budget for a voter civic education exercise during the election year. Rodriquez also shared that another factor that had caused the failure in attracting people, was that there was be a small pool of quality ward councillors. He further warned that the poor quality of ward councillors would have a major effect on the operations of the town’s chief executive officers (CEOs). “The CEOs will have a challenge with ward councillors who have no understanding of the operations of the council,” said Rodriquez.
Meanwhile, the Community Liaison Officer at the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Melusi Hlanze, confirmed that they had seen a low turnout for registration in the urban government elections. Hlanze said a bigger concern was noted in the two mega municipalities, Mbabane and Manzini as the numbers were not impressive. However, Hlanze disclosed that as it stood they don’t foresee the ministry extending the registration period again. He also said on the ground, they had realised that some people shunned the registration process for various reasons. “Some people are making excuses that they are not interested in voting because they will vote at home,” said Hlanze.
He further confirmed that a lot needed to be done in educating people about the laws governing the local urban government. Hlanze said they were being confronted by the challenges of people who seem to be unaware of the differences in local government elections functions and national elections. He said some residents of the towns, affected or receiving services seemed to have shunned the opportunity to form part of or influence the decisions making process. He said it was unfortunate that people didn’t take an opportunity to play a role in an election that allows property, land, and business owners who have resided in those area for at least a period of six months to be eligible to vote or contend in the election.