MP election losers to contest for Senate seats
µµ This is because of a proposed amendment to the Senate Elections Act, which will align with a 2018 ruling of the full bench of the High Court in the case between former MP Michael Masilela and the EBC.
MBABANE – Candidates who will lose in the national general election will now be allowed to lobby for seats in Senate. This is because of a proposed amendment to the Senate (lections Act, which will align with a 1 ruling of the full bench of the High Court in the case between former /obamba Member of 3arliament M3 Michael Masilela and the (lections and %oundaries Commission (%C . Having lost the elections in 1 , Masilela ran to court and successfully sought an order declaring Section of the Senate (lections Act of 1 as inconsistent with Section 9 of the Constitution.
Section 9 of the Constitution gives a list of qualities that disqualify a person from being nominated or elected into Senate and nowhere does it mention losing in the µrecent general election¶ as one of those.
The grounds mentioned in Section 9 include being insolvent, under sentence of death or imprisonment of more than si[ months and not being eligible to be a voter, among other things.
Masilela was also successful in having the court further strike down this section of the Act, due to it being inconsistent with the Constitution.
UNSUCCESSFUL
This Section , under the subheading µManner of electing Senators¶, reads ³An unsuccessful candidate in the recent general election shall not be considered for nomination.´
The Senate (lections Amendment %ill of , which is soon e[pected to be debated by the House of Assembly, seeks to do away with this provision in its entity.
³Section of the 3rincipal Act is amended by deleting Subsection
and by adding a new subsection as follows ± µ)ollowing acceptance of nomination, a candidate shall present himself to the police for a clearance certificate, which shall be delivered by the police to the returning officer¶,´ reads the Amendment %ill.
Masilela had been nominated for the position of M3 at 1khanini 5oyal .raal, having satisfied all requirements to stand for the primary elections however, during the voting he was unsuccessful and came second with votes. The successful candidate obtained
1 votes.
NOMINATION
After the unsuccessful run in the primary elections, Masilela turned his focus on making himself available for nomination and election into Senate, as he believed he qualified for nomination into Senate because the requirements for such qualification into that office were almost the same as those of an M3.
The court heard former M3 Masilela¶s application, challenging the constitutionality of Section of the Senate elections Act 1o. of
1 and found that this section of the Act, that Masilela challenged, was indeed unconstitutional.
However, a week after this judgment, M3s acted in defiance of this court ruling by conducting the Senate elections with the e[ception of those who had lost in the recent national general election.
3rior to 1 , there was no law that forbade candidates who had lost in the recent general election not to be considered for election or appointment into Senate.
As a result, in , His Majesty .ing Mswati III appointed Anthony .hephu Cind]i as a Senator despite him having lost in the national general election that year. Cind]i, a known staunch traditionalist, lost in the primary elections under /obamba Constituency, which eventually saw Majahodvwa .humalo becoming the M3.
(arlier, before Cind]i¶s appointment, the newly-elected M3s had conducted the election of 1 senators and a number of the legislators were against the election of those who had lost in the election.
CRASHED
The then (%C Chairperson, Chief *ija now Man]ini 5egional Administrator , told the Times daily newspaper that it was not true that the people who crashed in the elections were not eligible to be engaged by the Head of State. ³Such a thing is not provided for in any of the laws of the land. The laws are just quiet regarding election losers,´ Dlamini said.
Cind]i¶s appointment came to the fore when he formed part of the M3s who paid a courtesy call on His Majesty at /o]itha 3alace.
Also in , election losers Mariah 1tshangase and Mandlenkhosi
Dlamini, aka D- 1ice, now late seriously lobbied to become senators. The two took the chance presented by the first meeting of the then newly-elected and appointed M3s to launch their bids for seats in Senate.
/anding a seat in Senate, through being elected by M3s, is now a costly e[ercise as it has been widely reported in the media that a candidate should prepare a budget of between ( and (
to amass overwhelming votes from the members of the House of Assembly.
APPOINTING
As per the Constitution, 1 senators are elected to Senate by members of the House of Assembly to make a total membership of legislators in the upper chamber, with His Majesty the .ing appointing
senators.
In 1 , an aspiring senator, who lost in the elections, accused 1 M3s of soliciting and accepting bribes amounting to ( with the promise that they would vote her into Senate.
However, after she did not make it, she demanded her money back and threatened to e[pose all of the M3s if they did not return the
money.
She even said she was prepared to face the full wrath of the law because she was aware that it is a crime to offer a bribe to anyone the same way it is to accept it.
She said she felt let down by the MPs, whom she trusted would deliver her political ambition after accepting money from her in exchange for their votes in the Senate elections. In 2020, former Senate Deputy President Ngomuyayona Gamedze withdrew his candidacy for a vacant Senate seat and alleged that there were corrupt practices in the campaign process that threatened the very existence of the Tinkhundla System of Government.
DISTURBING
Gamedze alleged that some MPs wanted ridiculous amounts of money to be given to them in order for one to secure a vote. He alleged that the money demanded by some of the legislators was not less than E10 000. In his withdrawal letter, Gamedze stated that he had unfortunately observed a very disturbing practice that seemed to ‘indicate that the election is open to the highest bidder’.
“I am of the opinion that the election will consequently not be fair, just and in national interest. I, therefore, find myself with no option but to hereby respectfully withdraw my candidacy for the election of a senator,” Gamedze wrote.
He had been nominated alongside Bongani Matsebula, Jacques Potgieter, Sifiso Mabuza and Jimmy Hlophe. Hlophe emerged the winner, but he died before he could complete his term and he has still not been replaced.