Times Of Swaziland: MZWAKHE TO RUN FOR PARLIAMENT, REGRETS JOINING SWALIMO

MZWAKHE TO RUN FOR PARLIAMENT, REGRETS JOINING SWALIMO
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Mfanukhona Nkambule on 02/04/2023 17:13:00


MBABANE – Gospel artist Mzwakhe Myeni is gunning for the Parliament position
presently occupied by his elder brother and fellow musician Timothy Myeni.
Mzwakhe, who was in September last year expelled from the Swaziland Liberation
Movement  (SWALIMO), where he was Lubombo District Chairperson, has exclusively
revealed to the Times SUNDAY that he will contest for the MP position under
Nkilongo Constituency. He has disclosed that he no longer believes in political
parties, but is in full support of the Tinkhundla System of Government that is
rooted on individual merit as a basis for election or appointment to public
office. “It is true that I would be participating in this year’s national
elections under the portfolio of Member of Parliament.
develop
It is of pivotal importance to note that my constituency is one that is
under-developed and I have taken the task to try and work around such in order
to develop the constituency. Hence I will be participating in the Nkilongo
Inkhundla,” Mzwakhe said. The country is going to the much-anticipated polls
this year after having experienced an unprecedented political unrest that has
resulted in the death of over 50 people and also saw the destruction of
infrastructure through arson attacks. Already, the Elections and Boundaries
Commission (EBC) is conducting a civic voter education exercise; with
nominations expected to be held in July; primary elections are set for August;
and secondary elections scheduled to be in September.
voted
As opposed to individuals who would be participating in the election with the
intention of working to change the country’s system of government once
elected, Mzwakhe said he would be working for and with government. He said
people voted into Parliament should be those who will work with and for
government. “I will be participating in the elections as an individual as per
the Constitution of Eswatini, which stipulates that only individuals are allowed
to participate in elections, not political formations. Thus I will be
participating as an individual since I respect the constitution and I’m not
belonging to any political party,” Mzwakhe said. He stated that if there was
one thing that he regretted, it had to be his decision to join the mass
democratic movement (MDM) under SWALIMO. He was fired from SWALIMO after a
disciplinary process that found him guilty of having brought the name of the
organisation into disrepute.
mistakes
“Being a member of SWALIMO was one of the biggest mistakes I ever made and I
have to acknowledge that blunder. I’m glad that after I came back to my
senses, I quickly corrected such. I respect Their Majesties and all the
institutions of the monarchy. And I’m not opposing Tinkhundla under the
leadership of His Majesty, but I fully support Their Majesties and His
Majesty’s government,” stated Mzwakhe. He said joining the MDM was an
eye-opener for him because he got to realise that political parties did not know
what they wanted. “You can’t want to change the country without any formula.
You can’t just wake up one morning and think you can lead a country just
because you believe you have a following but you do not have even a single
structure in place. If these political parties can take over, I tell you that
within two months people would be calling for a return to Tinkhundla,” he
said. Mzwakhe observed that Eswatini is a small country with a population of
around 1 million and an even lesser number of eligible voters, therefore he felt
it did not make sense that there were around 15 political parties already in
existence.
support
He opined that the political party that would win the election would not claim
to have the support of a majority of emaSwati because spreading the number of
citizens across the 15 organisations would give you an average of just above 50
000 members per entity. “I believe that a political party should govern
because its membership is a majority of the population. The people that you see
on social media are not representative of the population of the country,” he
said. Mzwakhe said what this meant was that the monarchy still had numbers on
the ground. According to him, every household in Eswatini had people who still
trusted the King and believed in the system of the country. “If you look at
the attendance during the recent Buganu, Umhlanga and Incwala ceremonies, you
can tell that the monarchy still has the numbers. All these people come from
different homesteads, which should tell you where emaSwati are. That is why I
say joining the MDM was the biggest mistake ever, which is something I should
acknowledge and correct,” he said. He said politics is about numbers and the
King had shown that he still has the numbers to prove his legitimacy.
different
“If you don’t have numbers on the ground, nobody will know or recognise what
you have done. That’s what I used to know while I was still with SWALIMO. We
would ferry people to different destinations just so we could appear to have the
numbers. You need to mobilise,” Mzwakhe said. He rejected the school of
thought that the Monarch can co-exist with political parties, as he said it was
impossible to have two bulls in one kraal. Mzwakhe said he was fortunate enough
to know that the intention of the MDM in calling for a dialogue was to have the
King’s powers reduced significantly. “If we have a King that is powerless,
what would be the future of the country? Look at how Malema (EFF Leader Julius)
changes tune. He once said that he would die an ANC member because he was being
given the ANC-Youth League presidency; but suddenly, after he had been expelled
from the ANC, he formed the EFF.
fighting
“The same Malema who supported Cyril Ramaphosa in the ousting of Jacob Zuma,
is now fighting against Ramaphosa and wants him removed. What then is this thing
called democracy? This thing is nothing,” he said. He said Eswatini has one of
the best political systems in Tinkhundla and he was saying this from the
privileged position of having had a stint within the political parties, which
was where he got to realise and understand that emaSwati, for now, are not ready
for political parties. “We are fine with what we have. There are people who
are currently fighting within the MDM, purely because of popularity contest; how
much more would they fight if they were given an opportunity to run government?
It would be a huge problem,” Mzwakhe said. He declared that the Tinkhundla
System is perfect and democratic; and in fact one of the most democratic systems
in the world. He said there were other countries that were using the same
system, the only difference was that Eswatini chose to name it ‘Tinkhundla’.
“Tinkhundla just needs to deliver. By joining the elections, I don’t want to
fight government but want to assist government to deliver to the people. This
system was designed to be a bottom-up tactic, which is why I want to be at the
bottom where the people are and work upwards. The top-down approach that we now
see is not supposed to be there and that is what must be addressed,” Mzwakhe
said.
improve
He suggested that the only thing that needed to be done in Eswatini was to
improve service delivery, such that the people at the grassroots level had their
needs taken care of. He said the money from Central Government should reach the
people on the ground. Mzwakhe said the Nkilongo Inkhundla should be one of the
richest constituencies in Eswatini as it has all the resources, such as plenty
sugar cane fields, the Big Bend Sugar Mill, the US Distillers company, Matata
Group of Companies and the Crooks Plantation operation, but no one was utilising
these to improve the people’s lives. “Nkilongo is crowded with companies but
I don’t know why the people here are unemployed. It now needs people who are
sound-minded and business minded, who will use the opportunities around them
without looking at government.
opportunities
“The people of Nkilongo should create their own job opportunities and not wait
for people from outside to come here and open businesses. There is no MP who has
done that. There is a lot we can do through the resources we have. Government
can only play a supporting role,” he emphasised. He said he was not yet aware
whether his brother Timothy will also seek to contest the parliamentary
elections, but even if that was case, his decision would stand. Noteworthy is
that Timothy is one of the current crop of MPs who has aligned himself with the
calls for political reforms in favour of a political party-based system. “If
he joins, I won’t be necessarily competing against him but will be exercising
my constitutional right. The good thing about Tinkhundla elections is that you
don’t compete against anyone but you just exercise your individual right. Once
you go to the elections to compete against someone, then it becomes
unconstitutional as it becomes personal,” Mzwakhe continued to opine.
showdowns
He said Timothy has got his own lane and affairs; and he also has his own. He
said he was not looking to fight anyone and won’t descend to levels of verbal
showdowns with anyone as his primary focus was to go to Parliament, aid
government and bring development to Nkilongo. “As I mentioned earlier, I am
one person who respects the Constitution of the country and I will be
participating under the Tinkhundla System of Government. I’ll uphold all its
values and I don’t intend to do any fighting inside or outside Parliament,”
he reiterated. Mzwakhe said he was going into the elections with the full
support of not only his wife and children but also that of his 11 brothers and
two sisters.