Times Of Swaziland: SENATOR WANTS PETITIONS,  UNREST DEATHS DEBATE

SENATOR WANTS PETITIONS,  UNREST DEATHS DEBATE
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BY PHIWASE PHUNGWAYO on 05/10/2021 08:29:00


LOBAMBA – Senator Mkhululi Dlamini has called for Senate to debate motions
surrounding the events that led to the loss of lives of emaSwati during the
political unrest and delivery of petitions to constituencies.
This was before the tabling of portfolio committee reports in Senate yesterday.
It is worth noting that Senator Mkhululi had previously moved a motion directed
to the Prime Minister (PM), Cleopas Dlamini, seeking that he should detail the
events leading to the loss of lives of emaSwati, allegedly at the hands of
security forces. The report was later submitted by the PM’s Office, but due to
the various activities at Senate and that some events of the political unrest
were still ongoing, it was only tabled and not debated. “There are two reports
whose motions were passed. One looked into the issue of how the delivery of
petitions went and this one was not reported. I move that it should be debated
and the time for it to be reported is now,” the senator said.
He added that the other one was about providing a detailed report on the
condition of the unrest in the country. Senator Mkhululi mentioned that it
required details on how many people were arrested and how. He reiterated that
there was no better time to debate such reports than now. Senate President
Lindiwe Dlamini acknowledged Senator Mkhululi’s submission. She admitted that
she removed some motions, but the responses were provided.  Meanwhile, Deputy
Prime Minister (DPM) Themba Masuku, who was representing the PM, highlighted
that he had not come with the report as he was unaware that it would be
required.
ambush
“It would be an ambush because we were not forewarned about it,” Masuku
said. The Senate president clarified that Senator Mkhululi did not mean for the
debate to take place there and then, but eventually. Senator Mkhululi concurred
and said he meant that these should be debated during the next sitting.  Senator
Mkhululi’s motion was adopted by senators. Recently, Lobamba Lomdzala Member
of Parliament (MP) Marwick Khumalo declared that the Speaker, Petros Mavimbela,
was no longer fit for office as he did not list some of their motions in the
Order Paper despite having submitted them to his office.
The motions were almost similar to Senator Mkhlululi’s. One of the motions
which was to be moved by Khumalo was intended to call for the House to debate
the petitions that were delivered in almost all constituencies in June 2021.
Also, Khumalo’s motion sought the House to debate the issue of the people who
were killed during the unrest, with individuals and organisations claiming that
over 70 people were killed, allegedly by security forces, while government’s
official death toll was at 37.
The other motion, which was reportedly supposed to be moved by Madlangempisi MP
Sibusiso ‘Scorpion’ Nxumalo and seconded by Ndzingeni MP Lutfo Dlamini,
meant for the House to debate on the issue of a national dialogue on the
political challenges faced by the country. However, Mavimbela did not allow
Khumalo to move the motion because he claimed not to have seen or received it in
order to apply himself to it. MP Nxumalo could also not move his motion as the
Speaker is said to have also played the same card as he did with Khumalo.