Vuvulane residents run to court again
MANZINI - Vuvulane Town residents want the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development and Vuvulane Town Board officials to show cause why they should not be charged with contempt.
According to the residents, respondents (Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, PS Clifford Mamba and Vuvulane Town Board Deputy Chairperson Zandile Tsabedze and Town Clerk Melusi Hlanze were allegedly in contempt of a court order.
In the court they were directed to take reasonable steps to ensure that eligible voters under Vuvulane Town Board elect their own councillors every five-year term with immediate effect. The ministry and the officials are respondents one to four in the matter, where the applicants are; Sylvester Dlamini, Thabo Dlamini, Thabo Vilakati and Nkosinathi Maziya. The others are Hlobsile Ngozo, Luke Shabangu, Ncobile Gumedze, Mfundo Masuku, Sicelo Nene and Nhlanhla Mngometulu. The applicants’ concern was that they only elected councillors at Vuvulane Town Board three times since the area was pronounced as an urban area. They alleged that this was the period between 1999 and 2012 as the last councillors’ elections were in the year 2008.
The applicants purported that since 2012, they had been denied their constitutional rights to vote for their councillors as eligible voters for the Vuvulane Town Board, allegedly by the first and second respondents. They submitted that they were denied their constitutional right without any lawful and/or justifiable reasons.
In this matter, the applicants, through their Lawyer Derrick Jele from Robinson Bertram, purported that the first to fourth respondents were found to be in contempt of the order of the court which was granted on February 20, 2023.
They prayed that in order to purge their contempt, the first to fourth respondents were directed to comply with the order of court within three days from date hereof, failing which they should show cause though on affidavit why they should not be sent to prison for contempt.
Finalisation
On top of that, they prayed that pending finalisation of the matter the above prayers should be ordered to operate with immediate and interim effects.
One of the applicants, Sylvester Dlamini, in his founding affidavit submitted that on February 20, 2023 the court granted an order, where the first to fourth respondents were ordered and directed to take all reasonable steps to ensure the registration of eligible voters for the election of the Vuvulane Town Board Councillors for the year 2023 forthwith.
Again, he submitted that the first respondent (ministry) was ordered and directed to take all reasonable steps to ensure that the eligible voters of Vuvulane Town Board do elect their own councillors as provided or contemplated in terms of Section 220 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Eswatini Act 001/2005.
“Under further and/or alternative relief, the respondents were ordered and directed to reasonably extend the registration period in respect of the Vuvulane Town Board and the respondents were ordered to pay costs of the application,” reads part of Dlamini’s affidavit.
Thereafter, he told the court that the court order was duly served upon the respondents on the February 20 and 22, 2023. He submitted that the order was clear on what the respondents had to do in line with the Constitution and the Urban Government Act.“I must state that it was not one of the grounds of opposition that the respondents do not have money to conduct the elections. The only defence was that the Constitution and the Urban Government Act does not obligate the respondents to conduct elections for a town board, but a town council. This court dismissed the respondents defence and the order was issued,” Dlamini submitted. After that, he told the court that despite that the order was issued on February 20, 2023, up to date it (order) had not been complied with by the respondents. He alleged that no one was registering eligible voters for the local government at Vuvulane. He added that the respondents had also not extended the registration of voters in Vuvulane.
“This is in breach of the court order,” reads part of the affidavit. He highlighted that the registration of local government election voters was coming to an end on today (Friday March 10, 2023), yet no one at Vuvulane had been registered as a voter to take part in the upcoming elections. Dlamini submitted that the alleged defiance of the order of the court was, therefore, supposedly deliberate and intentional by the respondents. He added that it was not one of any of the grounds of opposition by the respondents that it would be impossible to conduct the elections.
After that, he submitted that on February 23, 2023, upon realising that the respondents were not complying with the order of court, they (applicants) instructed their attorney to send a letter