IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIl
MBABANE - Residents from numerous constituencies are allegedly selling their votes to aspiring Members of Parliament (MPs).
Some legislators are already overwhelmed with daily requests of money from most residents in their constituencies.
One outgoing lawmaker, who preferred to remain anonymous, has disclosed that from January, residents from his inkhundla have been sending text messages and even calling on a daily basis requesting money with the promise that they would vote for him in return.
“The residents in my constituency are demanding sums from E200 to E500, which they claim are for whatever needs they may have at the time but they are not beating about the bush that they will return the favour in the long run.
“Let me just say, I would need over E20 000 daily for me to assist the residents and that is too much,” pointed out the MP. Another aspiring MP, who is looking forward to run for the oncoming national elections, has also disclosed that residents are not hiding that they want to benefit or a cash reward in return of the votes in the ballot box. “Winning elections could prove costly this time around and in order to make it, one needs to get a lot of money, but that is not a 100 per cent guarantee as some voters have a tendency of demanding money from several candidates,” opined the legislator.
Unveiled
The Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) Chairperson, Prince Mhlabuhlangene, this week unveiled the new logo and the slogan for the 2023 General Elections.
This year’s elections will be held under the slogan ‘Ngete Ngasala Nasakha Live Letfu’ and 59 constituencies will go to the ballot box to vote for their preferred candidate in the august House as the date for the Fifth Session of the 11th Parliament is near the end.
Some current MPs, in our previous publications, recently disclosed that they had decided not to run for this year’s national elections as they fear that they might lose out.
One of them even decried that the Tinkhundla System of Government had no manifesto for them to use in the elections campaign.
According to the Constitution of Eswatini Section 95 (1), a maximum of 59 members are elected and 10 are appointed by the King.
Fifty-five members are elected from single-member constituencies corresponding to the tinkhundla (tribal communities). Fourteentinkhundla are in Hhohho District, 11 in Lubombo District, 16 in Manzini District and 14 in Shiselweni District.
The King appoints the other 10 members, at least half of whom must be women.
The 66th member is the Speaker of the House, who is elected from outside the House.
If the percentage of women falls below 30 per cent, a maximum of four women may be elected from the administrative regions.
Each member must be a citizen of Eswatini, be at least 18 years old, a registered voter, and have ‘paid all taxes or made arrangements satisfactory to the Commissioner of Taxes’. The House selects 10 of the 30 members of the upper chamber, the Senate of Eswatini with the King appointing the rest.
BUying
In the 2018 national elections, it was reported that the police were called to the Manzini Region in one of the constituencies where one of the candidates for the House of Assembly ‘was accused of literally buying votes’ at the Divine Ministries Auditorium, near St Michael’s School.
It was alleged that one of the candidates had been tipped off that voters were given E100 each to vote. It was gathered that voters who had taken the money fled when police entered the auditorium. Agents of candidates were also reported to have been giving away E20 notes at both Nkhanini and Sitjeni polling stations in Lobamba.
“Winning elections could prove costly this time around and in order to make it, one needs to get a lot of money.”