IPU expresses ‘wish’ to see Sibaya recommendations
MBABANE ± The IPU, which is the world international organisation of Parliaments, has communicated a wish to receive more information on the concrete recommendations made in the course of the Sibaya national dialogue.
In particular, the organisation, whose full name is Inter-Parliamentary Union, said it wished to know the specific actions planned to implement the recommendations, in particular in the area of political and democratic reforms.
This is contained in the IPU Governing Council 5eport which has been compiled following the participation of a delegation of local parliamentarians at a hearing held with the Committee on the Human 5ights of Parliamentarians during the 148th IPU Assembly last month.
The report contains decisions made following the hearing, where the local delegation had to provide feedback on issues related to alleged human rights violations including arbitrary arrest and detention, inhumane conditions of detention, lack of due process at the investigation stage, lack of fair trial proceedings and excessive delays.
Other issues touched on violation of freedom of opinion and expression, violation of freedom of assembly and association, failure to respect parliamentary immunity and other acts obstructing the exercise of the parliamentary mandate.
In the report, the IPU reiterated its readiness to provide support on the actions planned following the dialogue.
It should be noted that the Sibaya People’s Parliament was held in 1ovember last year, where emaSwati got a chance to raise a variety of issues.
On the last day, His MaMesty .ing Mswati III addressed the nation and said he had noted that one of the burning issues which came to the fore as emaSwati made submissions was that of poverty.
The .ing said the cries from the nation about poverty and that it was big challenge. He said it was now evident that the time had come to declare poverty a disaster and that action needed to be taken.
The .ing said it was good to see the whole nation coming together to deliberate on issues aimed at ensuring the growth of the country.
Elaborating, the .ing said it was obvious that since the country was big, not all emaSwati got the opportunity to make a submission, which meant that there was a need to have sessions of similar nature in the various tinkhundla centres as per the dictates of the decentralisation policy.
Meanwhile, during the IPU Assembly last month, the Parliament of Eswatini was represented by members of both chambers, two from each.
The members included deputy Senate president who is head of the delegation, Senator Princess 1cengencenge Dlamini and Members of Parliament (MPs) Chief Mshengu Dlamini and Alec /ushaba.
In the report, the IPU stated that, since the protests broke out in Eswatini in 2021, SADC and other international partners had strongly encouraged the Eswatini authorities to conduct a meaningful, substantive and inclusive national dialogue to discuss options for democratic and institutional reforms.
It mentioned that at the hearing held with the Committee on the Human 5ights of Parliamentarians during the 148th IPU Assembly, the Eswatini delegation stated that the national dialogue had since been concluded and had been successful and that the relevant ministries were now tasked with adopting the corresponding implementation plans.
At the same hearing, it was mentioned that the Eswatini delegation stated that an IPU trial observer who had come to Eswatini had not been impartial.
INTACT AND PROPER
The report mentioned that in relation to the case of incarcerated former MPs %acede Mabu]a and Mthandeni Dube, the Eswatini delegation stated that the .ingdom of Eswatini’s Mustice system was intact and proper, and that the Mudge who ruled in the case was very experienced and had taken all relevant facts into account.
³The delegation said Mabu]a and Dube have the right to appeal the verdict and said that the charges against them concerned events that took place when Eswatini was very much in lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic regulations being in place and that in the course of the events in 2021 the lives of more than 30 people were lost,´ reads part of the report.
Also mentioned in the report is that the Eswatini delegation told the IPU that if Mabu]a and Dube had been interested in pushing for the direct election of the Prime Minister, they should have chosen to achieve this outcome through their work in Parliament, rather than by interacting with citi]ens outside of Parliament and inciting them to violence.
The report also highlights that in response to the IPU’s wish to send a delegation from the Committee on the Human 5ights of Parliamentarians to Eswatini, at a hearing held at the 145th IPU Assembly in October 2022, the then Speaker responded that he would welcome such a delegation.
However, the report states, subseTuent attempts by the IPU to organise the mission have not yet borne fruit with the Eswatini authorities but that instead, the delegation stated that committee was still welcome to come to Eswatini.
A summary of the report reflects that following the hearing, the IPU Governing Council took seven decisions, one of them being that of expressing the wish to get more information on Sibaya and the recommendations made.
Another decision taken was to thank the Eswatini delegation to the 148th IPU Assembly for extensive and valuable information provided at the hearing with the Committee on the Human 5ights of Parliamentarians and its spirit of cooperation including submission of written communications that the parliamentary authorities sent to the IPU.