Times Of Swaziland: MEDIA CHUCKED OUT AFTER ‘MOI MOI’ CRITICS BILL

MEDIA CHUCKED OUT AFTER ‘MOI MOI’ CRITICS BILL
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Thokozani Mazibuko on 26/11/2022 07:05:00


LOBAMBA – Minister of Tinkhundla Administration and Development, David
‘Cruiser’ Ngcamphalala chucked out journalists from the country’s media
houses after Senator Vuka ‘Moi Moi’ Masilela’s criticism of a Bill
yesterday in parliament.
This was during the ministry’s consultative meeting exercise with senators on
the Decentralisation Bill where Senator Masilela punched holes on the whole
exercise which he said it didn’t represent accurately the views of His Majesty
King Mswati III. The feeling among senators was that the ministry shouldn’t
rush but take time and do thorough consultations before actually moving for its
adoption. “Minister, you and your ministry should take every submission that
is made here at the senate and to the attorney general and engage his office and
come back to this house because we cannot afford to make the same mistake of
passing out laws which will cause more cracks and divisions in the country of
Eswatini,” pointed out Senator Prince Hlangabeza who was chairing the
consultative exercise.
Director of Decentralisation, Dumisani Sithole was there to guide the senators
through.   On another note, Senator Mkhululi ‘Dubula’ Dlamini told senators
that the new Bill was not addressing the issues of service delivery. During the
consultative exercise, the senator pointed out that the minister was only
addressing matters of inductions. “There had been a lot of complaints before
that the Tinkhundla system of government was at zero when it comes to issues of
service delivery and we must make it a point that before this Bill is passed,
those matters should be addressed,” clarified Senator Dlamini.
Furthermore, the senator went on to implore his colleagues for having understood
the purpose of the late King Sobhuza II of introducing the Tinkhundla system of
Governance. “We should not destroy the essence of the Tinkhundla system of
government because when the issue of service delivery is addressed, the country
can be fixed,” clarified Senator Dlamini when making observations during the
consultative exercise.
Decentralisation is a process that has been commissioned by the Head of State
and entrenched in the country’s constitution as the basis of the country’s
system of government.
According to section 218 (2); The main objective of the Tinkhundla System of
Government is to bring government  closer to the people so that the people at
sub-national or local community level progressively take control of their own
affairs and govern themselves.Based on the principle of subsidiarity,
decentralisation allows central government to have a subsidiary function while
allowing services and functions that can best be delivered at local level to be
perfomed at those lower levels. Most importantly, decentralisation is a global
agenda which has been effectively used as a political power sharing and people
empowerment tool to enhance the participation of all the people in a country in
both political and socio-economic development processes and activities.