LAST 25 YEARS 90% MPS HAVE LOST ELECTIONS

The Tinkhundla Political System of Government has experienced a rather disturbing poor record in terms of returning Members of Parliament (MPs).

As a political analyst, one must ask a few crucial questions about these realities. King Sobhuza II, when introducing this system, said the system was an experiment that emaSwati would have to improve from time to time. The only way to improve our political system is to occasionally sit back and analyse its performance in terms of MPs who form an important part of the system. This analysis must be void of any bias but just answer pertinent questions to get honest answers to improve the system.

The first critical question to ask is why 90 per cent of MPs, for the past 25 years, have not been able to be re-elected for a second team. The second question we must ask is whether it is a good thing that 90 per cent of elected MPs have not been able to be re-elected for a second term in the past 25 years.  In order to adequately answer the question, one would have to know the expectations of the electorate who are the voters from their MPs. I hope I would be correct to say the voters are looking for good service delivery. They are looking for roads, clinics, schools, hospitals, job creation, assistance in starting businesses and much more. A vast majority of emaSwati don’t care about the legislative duties of MPs but want improved services in their communities. The only reason you vote for a person is because you believe he or she can improve your lives at community level, in one way or another. One of the duties of MPs is to provide oversight on the government that has been given the responsibility to use public funds for the benefit of all emaSwati. Then finally and most importantly, MPs are tasked with the duties of begging government departments to provide services to voters.  

Begging government departments

MPs must know which office to visit to get assistance for various demands coming from ordinary emaSwati in communities. One must understand that they are just individuals thrown into the deep end with very little support structures and told to swim. They have no real assistance except for a few seminars and their own resources available to them personally. The Tinkhundla funds are not really controlled by them but the tindvuna tetinkhundla and they are not much any way, given the demands from communities. On the government front, in the first two years, a new MP really knows nothing about getting assistance for his or her community. The first two years in office are spent trying to understand how the government system works. When the MP finally begins to understand the workings of the system, they realise that there is a waiting list of government priorities that have nothing to do with them.

If they are lucky, they will find the effort of the former MP working for them, however, if they are not so lucky, they must start from zero. By the time they begin to see some progress, their term in office is brought to an end, and they have not delivered. They start to avoid going back to the people because they have nothing to offer. When eventually the elections come again, the voters punish them and they are out, and a new MP starts all over again. He/she will also come across the same fate.

Is this high turnover good?

The second question we must ask is whether this is a good thing for our country. If you were to ask the average liSwati, they would gladly say it is a good thing. Phuzuphume is the general motto. Translation - eat and go, let someone also eat. However, is it really a good thing to have new MPs in every election? I am not so sure if this is working in our favour as ordinary citizens. Like everything in life, experience matters and can determine the success and failure of anything. We cannot possibly think it is good to have 90 per cent new faces every five years. In fact, this is a sign of a system that is not well somewhere. The people are expressing their dissatisfaction not with the MPs but also with the government delivery system. There has been talk that the MPs are not returning to the people once elected but this cannot surely be true for 90 per cent of them. There must be a fundamental floor in the Tinkhundla System and the question is, do we want to correct it as emaSwati or are we ok with it?

High pension bill, govt secrets

This high turnover also means that government will pay pensions to the MPs for life when in fact they contributed only for five years. The other factor is the exposure of highly classified information held by MPs that do not return. The fact is that there are now hundreds of former MPs in possession of highly classified national information. The fact that we are saying one cannot aspire to become a career politician in Eswatini does not sit well with me and the future of the Tinkhundla Political System of Government. I never wish to end without offering some form of suggestion for the improvement of the system. My suggestion would be to give MPs more say in the allocations of development funds within the government structures. I am not sure how this can be done but I feel, presently, they only have a title but no real power to make meaningful change. Comment septembereswatini@gmail.com   

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