SADC, AU to support Eswatini elections
MBABANE – While the country’s political formations remain divided over their members participating in the upcoming national general elections, the AU and SADC bodies have thrown their weight behind the process.
In a statement, the Secretariat of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU) Commission committed to working closely in this year’s upcoming elections in four SADC Member States.
These countries are Eswatini, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Madagascar and Zimbabwe.
The two organisations said they would work together to ensure that the elections were held in a peaceful manner and that the elections reflect the will of the people and, ultimately, become enablers of peace and development rather than sources of conflict.
PEACE AND SECURITY
They also reaffirmed their commitment to continued cooperation on efforts to enhance peace and security by ramping up constant, regular and extensive engagement between SADC and AU to enhance peace, security and development in line with the AU Agenda 2063.
The commitment as per the statement, was made when the Commissioner of the African Union for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Bankole Adeoye and his delegation from the AU visited the SADC Secretariat, where they met the SADC Deputy Executive Secretary for Corporate Affairs, Ambassador Joseph Nourrice and officials from the Directorate of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Affairs.
“The two parties discussed a wide range of issues which included the political and security situation in the SADC region, in particular, the northern part of Mozambique and eastern part of the DRC as well as the political situation in the Kingdom of Eswatini and Kingdom of Lesotho with the view to find areas of SADC-AU support and cooperation,” reads the statement.
The parties underscored that, without sustainable peace and security, there could not be any meaningful socio-economic development on the African continent.
Adeoye, the AU Commissioner, was in Botswana to attend the 18th Ordinary Session of the Committee of Intelligence and Security Services of Africa (CISSA) conference in Gaborone from January 29 to February 4, 2023.
In tweets, Adeoye said at the conference he underscored the imperative to enhance intelligence sharing and for security sector actors to work together in responding to the plethora of security challenges in the continent.
“I further highlighted the need to collectively adapt tools for responses, given the dynamic nature of the security climate. Robust Counter-Terrorism Strategy and Active Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Stabilisation Strategy,” he tweeted.
SECURITY CHALLENGES
He further stated that in his address on behalf of AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat, he underscored the imperative to prioritise the peace, security and development nexus in the approach to tackling the unprecedented security challenges facing the African continent.
Government Press Secretary Alpheous Nxumalo, reacting to the AU-SADC support, said the two were most welcome to do what they wished in assisting the national process of the elections.
He said the organisations may come to the kingdom, as they had always done, and would be assured of a warm welcome into the country, to monitor the national general elections.
“However, we do not have a history of violence or rigged elections in this country and we hope they are coming with an open mind not with pre-determined positions and pronouncements,” Nxumalo said.
Sikelela Dlamini, the Secretary General of the Multi-Stakeholder Forum (MSF), an organisation that is leading the anti-elections campaign, welcomed the affirmation from SADC and the AU commission to work closely with the people of Eswatni in ensuring peace and security in the country.
“In this line, we also hope that there will be discussions around the type of elections which when held will not be sources of conflict,” he said.
Dlamini said the MSF condemned violence and conflict with the strongest possible terms and that they had an ardent belief in the peaceful resolution of differences.
In the previous elections held in 2018, the SADC Elections Observer Mission (SEOM), which was led by Highvie Hamududu, the then Special Advisor to the Presidency for the Republic of Zambia, applauded the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) of Eswatini for conducting the elections professionally.
He presented the SEOM’s conclusion that the elections were conducted successfully, in a peaceful environment, in line with the Constitution of the Kingdom of Eswatini, and the guiding legal framework.
The SEOM acknowledged the kingdom’s efforts at empowering women through the adopted law that seeks to increase the representation of women in Parliament.
The Head of Mission also highlighted that the electoral system permits Eswatini citizens who reside outside the country to register and vote from their places of residence, and added that the 2018 elections were the first time that prison inmates had been permitted to vote.
REQUIRE IMPROVEMENT
Further, the SEOM identified the areas that require improvement; these included the need to introduce continuous voter registration and polling station-based on counting of ballot papers, enhancement of women’s participation and the establishment of special tribunals to handle electoral disputes.
With respect to the media, the head of mission urged the media and the EBC to design and implement an electoral code of conduct for the media, and further encouraged media practitioners to improve their capacity to report on electoral issues.
Meanwhile, local parties are presently divided into two camps; the #Siyaya and #Asiyi camps to signify those in support and those against participating in the elections.