Gebeni folk ‘bypassed’ for civic education
NTONTOZI – While many communities can’t wait for the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) to conduct civic education in their areas, Gebeni umphakatsi has reportedly been bypassed.
Gebeni is a community under Ntontozi Inkhundla. Over a week ago, EBC conducted the civic and voter education exercise under Ndlinilembi. The residents of Gebeni are said to have also waited for their turn, since the two communities are neighbours. However, the civic and voter education exercise was not conducted.
According to some of the residents who asked not to be mentioned, the residents of Gebeni felt that they were being forced to be part of Ndlinilembi against their will. They said the area had its own chief, known as Nkhosini.
They also said they had a separate indvuna from Ndlinilembi and did not understand why they should be forced to be part of a community they did not belong to.
*Jomo, a resident of Gebeni said he was surprised that even the EBC was avoiding handling the matter and that they were referred to the Manzini Regional Administrator’s (RA) Office. He said the residents wanted the matter to be resolved so that EBC officials could visit the area, accompanied by the rightful chief. He said, though in the past there had been some disputes between the two communities over boundaries, the people understood that they had their own chiefs. They said this was the reason why, in the past, each community was accorded the opportunity for its own venue of the civic and voter education exercise.
Jomo said the situation changed after the appointment of the new chiefs. He said with Ndlinilembi having a chief, along came the changes, adding that they were now expected to be subjects of the chief of Ndlinilembi, who is Chief Hynd.
Noteworthy, according to the government website
www.gov.sz, Chief Hynd is both the overseer of Ntontozi and Gebeni. Meanwhile, the EBC Spokesperson Mbonisi Bhembe said he could not confirm the matter. He was also asked if the civic education was still ongoing to which he replied affirmative. Bhembe was further asked if the officials would return to Ntontozi Inkhundla where Gebeni is situated since they had been to Ndlinilembi. He said he could not immediately confirm that.