SA embracing Tinkhundla principles - govt
MBABANE – The Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini believes that neighbouring South Africa (SA) is now embracing principles of the Tinkhundla System of Government.
This is subsequent to the neighbouring Republic’s National Assembly passing The Electoral Amendment Bill which will allow independent candidates to stand in the 2024 provincial and national elections.
Eswatini practices the Tinkhundla System of Government, which is explained in Section 79 of the kingdom’s Constitution as “A democratic, participatory, tinkhundla-based system which emphasises devolution of State power from central government to tinkhundla areas and individual merit as a basis for election or appointment to public office’.
Government Press Secretary Alpheous Nxumalo, in a statement, took the opportunity to congratulate the SA’s National Assembly and the majority governing party – the African National Congress (ANC) – for passing the Electoral Bill to allow individual participation in the local and national elections in the country.
“Eswatini supports the decision that there should be a more holistic and inclusive approach to the national elections, which is aligned to the principles embraced by the current Tinkhundla System of Governance,” Nxumalo said.
He said, during his Speech from the Throne, His Majesty King Mswati III emphasised the importance of emaSwati safeguarding and protecting the Tinkhundla System of Government.
“His Majesty specifically pointed out the importance of every liSwati having the right to elect a Member of Parliament (MP) directly to the National Assembly. His Majesty spoke as if he was alluding to a prophetic message that many other countries of the world are yet to embrace and adopt the principles and values enshrined in the Tinkhundla Democratic System of Governance,” said the government spokesperson.
He said the Eswatini Government applauded SA’s ANC for upholding the wishes of the majority of the SA citizenry to take charge of their respective representatives in the National Assembly.
“The Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini also wishes to assure the government of the Republic of South Africa of its full support, advice and expertise as they implement this rather bold undertaking aligned to the Tinkhundla System in the next general elections to take place in 2023,” Nxumalo
said.
He added that emaSwati should take pride in themselves for having authored an electoral and political system, which now served as a model to other states in the SADC Region and the world..
He said the most important significance of passing the Bill was that once the president signed it into law, South Africans who intend to participate and contest both the national, provisional and local elections would now be able to do so without having to join or belong to a certain political party.
He said this was just as stated in Section 79 of the Eswatini National Constitution.
In his Speech from the Throne, the King said: “Members of Parliament carry the mandate and voice of the people, since they are voted freely based on individual merit from their constituencies.”
The King said it was gratifying to note that the kingdom’s monarchical democracy had evolved over the years, as evidence by the fact that the National Elections held every five years were one of the most democratic.
The SA Constitution Court originally ordered the law to be changed in June 2020 and gave Parliament two years to do so.
LEGISLATURE SEAT
A key amendment to the electoral law has been the number of supporter signatures, an independent candidate will require before being able to run for a legislature seat.
An independent panel will also now be established to consider broader electoral reform after the 2024 elections.
But several opposition parties are reported to have said the amendments made a mockery of the bill’s intentions and would disadvantage instead of support independent candidates to participate in national elections
“Basically in each province where an independent stands, and doesn’t get a seat, these wasted votes go into a trough. Because overall proportionality has now been removed, the ANC scoops out the majority of votes in that through a recalculation system. In this ingenious system the ANC gets the wasted votes of persons who didn’t vote for them,” the EWN quoted the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Adrian Roos as having said.
The DA, Inkatha Freedom Party, Freedom Front Plus and the African Christian Democratic Party reportedly took exception to the bill, while the African National Congress, the Economic Freedom Fighters, GOOD Party and Al-Jamah all supported the bill with 218 votes to 81.