No guarantee unrest won’t happen again – minister
LOBAMBA – There is no guarantee that the political unrest will not happen again in the country.
This was a submission made by Min ister of TinNhundla $dministration and 'evelopment SiNhumbu]o 'lamini.
'lamini was responding to a concern by Senator &hief Mphatfwa, who wished to Nnow what the ministry was doing to ensure that the violence that rocNed the .ingdom of Eswatini at the height of the political unrest, in 2 2 , does not happen again.
The senator even suggested to the minister that &&TV cameras should be installed at every inkhundla centre across the country, for the identification of perpetrators who intend to destroy the tinkhundla structures.
Targeted
,t should be highlighted that multiple tinkhundla centres across the country were targeted and burnt down at the height of the political unrest and it was against that bacNdrop that the senator advocated for the installation of high level security systems, including alarms.
The minister concurred with the sena tor, stating that there was no guarantee that the unrest would not unfold again, hence it was of utmost importance to invest in top level security.
$lso emphasising on the investment in security was Senator ,saac Magagu la, who also said there was no guarantee that the unrest would not unfold again.
“There should be regular and struc tured meetings with security forces and the ministry should ensure that the security personnel deployed at the tinkhundla centres are well eTuipped, so much that it should be Must a touch of a button to alert security forces about any untoward occurrence,” said Magagula.
The minister revealed that investing in high level security at the tinkhundla centres was part of their plans but it was issues of budget limitations that hindered the implementation of same.
Budget
This was during the ministry’s port folio committee annual performance report debate for the financial year 2 2 2 , and budget estimates for the finacial year 2 2 2 , in Senate yesterday.
:hile elaborating on the issue, the minister revealed that as much as there was no guarantee of the political unrest occurring again, emaSwati did taNe lessons from it.
+e shared that Mudging from talNs on the streets, the masses did not want a repeat of the political unrest.
+e shared that emaSwati tooN lessons from the political unrest, one being that these were acts perpetrated by individ uals who were power hungry, not that there was something wrong politically in Eswatini.
+e further mentioned that there were glaring cracNs in some political forma tions, which emaSwati were noting, in cluding failure to hold elections, among others, which was a “clear sign that these people are only power hungry, but failing to sort issues around their own political establishments,” he said.