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MPS MUST BLAME SYSTEM NOT PM

31/07/2017 08:25:00 By Vusi Sibisi

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It is almost conclusive that elected representatives of the people in the Legislature are either ignorant of or do not comprehend the workings of the Tinkhundla political system under which they serve.

This was my conclusion after reading two newspaper articles last week headlined ‘PM hindering progress – MP’ and ‘Let Swazis have a say in appointment of PM – MP’ respectively, in which Matsanjeni North Member of Parliament Phila Buthelezi was central. MP Buthelezi’s grief was over service delivery by government, which he reasoned was being frustrated by the incumbent PM. In turn he believes that this could change if the people had a say in the appointment of a PM.
As I see it, while MP Buthelezi may rightly be frustrated by the poor service delivery by government, which is abroad for all to see, but blaming this on the incumbent PM is misdirected.

The PM is performing his mandate to the letter of what is demanded of him by the system as manifested by his penchant of putting emphasis on whose government it is that he is serving. Perhaps it is the PM’s shrewd albeit dissolute disposition to execute that which is expected of him that often sets him up against everyone else.
Notwithstanding his abuses of the system, time and time again the PM has tried, successfully or otherwise - depending on one’s political hue - to subtly bring the people to his confidence by explaining away some of the worst decisions, such as the infamous November 22, 2002 government policy position apropos certain court judgments that heralded the rule of law crisis, he has been called to make.
The PM’s preoccupation with securing his tenor of office by all means possible has manifested itself variously, including crushing everyone with divergent views to his or those he perceived as his enemies.

Having secured his tenor, he has routinely exploited the apparent inherent weaknesses of a flawed political system with a personalised governance system that in turn makes everyone else orbiting his seat of power, such as Cabinet ministers, nothing else but minions to project a veneer of normalcy of an otherwise grotesque political system. Perhaps someone is benefitting downstream within the construction industry.
As the immediate gate-keeper of the political hegemony, MP Buthelezi is not far off by focusing on the PM. However, he needs to look beyond the PM to the environment that made the PM and only then can he and his ilk begin to understand the Byzantine political system that is Tinkhundla. In effect MP Buthelezi and his colleagues must initially seek to understand the political system they are serving before they target an individual or seek solutions to its challenges.

If MP Buthelezi can recall, Sibaya had on two successive occasions ventilated itself on the subject of how the PM is appointed. The people were unequivocal; they wanted the PM to be elected just like legislators. But the will of the people has not carried the day, itself a window for MP Buthelezi and fellow lawmakers into the failings of the political status quo. Simply put, political power does not vest with the people, including legislators, but is exclusively resident in the institution of the monarchy hence the PM is still appointed and not elected by the people.
As I write this article, there is an electricity levy fund that the Legislature, whose primary role is that of oversight, is not aware of. Given the weak institutional framework of the Tinkhundla political system coupled with the sub-culture of entitlement, a fatal cocktail for collapsing the economy, the electricity levy fund is not secure, like government parastatals lately, from routine looting by the privileged.

As I see it, lawmakers like MP Buthelezi and others may be blinded from appreciating the bigger picture of a highly flawed political system by their elections – even if some are elected by ‘drunkards’ – on individual merit into the Legislature. Forget the layers of useless committees and development-oriented funds that are like crumbs created to keep the minions occupied while the privileged share the economic cake. The journey of MPs from the time they are elected up to the end of their term of office is like walking a tightrope blindfolded. They go to Parliament with no political manifestos (not to speak of skills) outside the usual promises of building roads and bridges, deep tanks, etc, for their constituencies but with no clue of how they would achieve these because Parliament is without any political clout. In the end some of them return to their constituencies having achieved nothing. Cumulatively, the cyclical elections are nothing but a fattening ranch for those who can get sufficient numbers of people drunk enough to vote for them.