Times Of Swaziland: OVER 500 WANTED OUT OF VOTERS ROLL AT KAMKHWELI

OVER 500 WANTED OUT OF VOTERS ROLL AT KAMKHWELI
================================================================================
Stanley Khumalo on 13/07/2023 11:26:00


SIPHOFANENI – Over 500 people are reportedly wanted out of the voters roll at
KaMkhweli under Siphofaneni Constituency.
KaMkhweli Chiefdom is under Siphofaneni Constituency, located about 52
kilometres southeast of Manzini and is led by Prince Mshengu. Until Tuesday,
wherein His Majesty King Mswati III declared 59 vacant seats in Parliament, it
was represented by Nomalungelo LaZwide Simelane, for about 12 months. She took
over from the President of the Swaziland Liberation Movement (SWALIMO), Mduduzi
‘Gawuzela’ Simelane, after his seat was declared vacant in Parliament as he
missed 20 consecutive sittings. He is currently in self-exile.
Meanwhile, the individuals said to be a cause for concern among the residents
are supposedly unknown to many people within the polling station.
Elections
It is claimed that some of the people who have registered to partake in the
general elections under this polling station are not from area. These
individuals were reportedly identified by community members when verifying the
voters roll and they raised their concerns with the Elections and Bounderies
Commission (EBC) officers. Sources from the community claimed that after
pointing out of these individuals, some community members registered their
concern with the EBC officers; however, it was claimed that the stationery used
for this was not sufficient. A form should be filled in when filing a complaint
with the EBC.
According to the sources, the community members decided to photocopy the form in
order to register the individuals who were unknown to them. One of the community
members, *Marvin, alleged that there were foreign nationals who were identified
in the voters roll. The foreigners, according to the community member, neither
had any business establishments in the area nor homesteads. Instead, Marvin
claimed that the foreign nationals listed their residential areas as those in
the capital city, Mbabane. “Some of the people claim to be residing in flats
at Checkers. We don’t have Checkers in Siphofaneni and we have never seen
them,” Marvin claimed. The registered voter purported that in his exercise of
establishing unknown people in the community, who had registered to vote at
KaMkhweli, he had identified over 120. Another resident, *Caleb, claimed that he
had seen people who were from Sithobelweni, Siyendle, Lavundlamanti, Bulunga and
even Fairview. The community member supposed that among the people he had seen
who were not from his constituency was a blogger of one of the popular Facebook
pages discussing political news in the country.
Identified
Caleb supposed that he had viewed the voters roll at KaMkhweli Primary,
Mnotfweni Primary and Siphofaneni High. In these three polling stations, he
purported to have identified 89 people who were not known to the community and
or were not residents of the constituency. Caleb said: “KaMkhweli has a
population of less than 2 500 people but seemingly those who seek to vote in the
area are over 4 800. Where are they from and why do they want to elect for us
someone who may not be accountable to us?” He bemoaned that the people who
were listed on the voters roll would arrive on the key days in the election
calendar to make decisions for the residents, something that would impact them
for the next five years. This, he said, was wrong and would be the source of
stalling any prospects of development as the individual they might vote for
would not have the interests of the people. Caleb expressed his wish that the
validation period could be extended as they (KaMkhweli constituents) only had
the voters roll copy from the past Saturday.
He supposed that from what he had gathered from other people, there could be
over 500 people who could not be identified despite that they registered to vote
at KaMkhweli yet they were not residents and or born thereat. Worth noting is
that arson attacks and the vandalising of property started under Siphofaneni
Constituency on June 26, 2021. The climax of the violent protest, which was
organised to deliver a petition to the then Siphofaneni Constituency legislator
(Mduduzi Simelane), started after the community members were stopped from
engaging in the exercise.  This was two days after the Acting Prime Minister at
the time, Themba Masuku, had suspended the delivery of petitions to constituency
centres, with immediate effect. In light of this, police officers were assigned
to Siphofaneni to stop the exercise, which did not augur well with the
petitioners and they went berserk, setting alight a South African-registered
horse and trailer truck after looting its contents – sugar.
Smouldered
Also, just across the Great Usuthu River Bridge, another horse and trailer truck
ferrying an excavator was torched. In this incident, the horse was smouldered
into ashes with debris of the frame lying on the ground. The chaos was not
limited to the torching of the trucks as a shop, run by a Pakistan national, was
vandalised and looted as well. The shop belonging to Ahmid Hassan had almost all
its contents emptied by people believed to be the protesters, while its owner
was asleep within it. The vandals pelted stones on its windowpanes before
gaining entry to take some of the items that were in stock. The turmoil,
resembling an aftermath of a warzone, was visible along the MR 8 Road
(Hhelehhele – Lavumisa Road), cutting through the town of Siphofaneni to
Phuzumoya. Worth noting is that Siphofaneni Constituency has seven chiefdoms
which are; KaMkhweli, Madlenya, Othandweni, Mphumakudze, Nceka, Ngevini and
Tambuti.