Times Of Swaziland: NO ONE FUNDING US - PETITION LEADERS

NO ONE FUNDING US - PETITION LEADERS
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Sibusiso Shange on 23/06/2021 08:46:00


MBABANE – While there have been suspicions that the ongoing petitions
delivered to constituencies might be funded, those in the forefront have
strongly denied that.
During random interviews, the youth, through their representatives, stated that
they sacrificed their time and money in order to see to it that the petitioning
of MPs was a success. One of the interviewed youth representatives was Batsabile
Matsebula from Lobamba Constituency. Matsebula stated that the petition was
informed by the predicament faced by many emaSwati.
The 29-year-old Matsebula stated that the petition was aimed at voicing out the
youth’s frustration, which she said resulted from the manner in which the
country’s public funds were utilised.
“In one of our demands, we called for the end of high salaries for certain
individuals in the country. It is not fair to see some emaSwati paid meagre
salaries while some recieve millions of Emalangeni from the same coffer. We
believe that a prime minister elected by the people can bring this to an end,
hence our demand,” she said. She stated that they believed that the elected PM
could address the issue of taxing for low income earners.  “We sacrificed our
time and money in preparing the petition because the demands contained therein
touch on issues that affect all emaSwati including children, youth and elderly
people,” she said.
She added that the youth did not want lazy and silent MPs in the august House. 
Matsebula was asked if they had any data reflecting the registration of the
youth in the area. She was also asked about the youth participation in the
drafting of the petition. In response, Matsebula said as far as she was
concerned, there was no formal youth structure at Mvutshini where she came from.
However, she stated that they had youth members who affiliated to an association
known as Youth Against Crime. She mentioned that other youth came from the
community members of the area.  Matsebula claimed that the youth from the
association and the community police members participated in the drafting of the
petition. It appeared that there were banners from proscribed entities such as
the People’s United Democratic Movement, Ecomic Freedom Fighters (EFF)
Swaziland and the Ngwane National Liberatory Congress (NNLC) during the marches
to the tinkhundla centres.