Times Of Swaziland: MABHANISI MAKES BRIBERY CLAIMS, LODGES COMPLAINT

MABHANISI MAKES BRIBERY CLAIMS, LODGES COMPLAINT
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Mmeli Mkhwanazi on 29/08/2023 08:47:00


MBABANE – Outgoing Kwaluseni Member of Parliament (MP) Sibusiso Mabhanisi
Dlamini, has alleged that the votes from His Majesty’s Correctional Services
(HMCS) were tampered with.
Dlamini wrote a letter to the EBC, where he appealed for the commission’s
response to this allegation, including that bribery was allegedly at play during
the elections. He further alleged that after voting, the ballot boxes were kept
at the Correctional Services, instead of the EBC premises. He said: “We are
very much interested in being engaged by the EBC on the matter and we appeal
that this shall happen in seven days after getting this letter.”
Elections
On Saturday, Dlamini lost the primary elections by 125 votes to Sifiso Shongwe.
Two days after the elections were held, Dlamini filed a letter of complaint with
the EBC and demanded the commission to respond within seven days. According to
the contents of the letter, Dlamini complained about the manner in which the EBC
conducted the special voting exercise which he said was not properly handled,
according to the law. “I am concerned with why the special voting boxes were
not submitted to where there was a count of ballot papers. Why were they not
presented to the centre where candidates and agents were present at Divine
Healing Ministries in Manzini?” he wondered. Dlamini mentioned that according
to the law, the results from the special voting were supposed to be presented on
the day they were to be counted to ensure a fair election process.
Moreover, the outgoing MP highlighted that he would like to know who counted,
the ballot papers from the Correctional facilities, which included Bhalekane,
Nhlangano, Big Bend, Mbabane, Matsapha and Pigg’s Peak Correctional centres.
“We would like to know who counted the ballot boxes from all the Correctional
Services facilities and we are interested in knowing the law that governs that
to happen,” he said. Furthermore, the outgoing MP disclosed that there were a
number of people from Kwaluseni who were jailed in various prisons in the
country yet he only got five votes in total. In an interview, he said this would
not have been possible as he said: “There are about 40 inmates from Kwaluseni
who are at the Nhlangano Prison, while those awaiting trial are 73 in other
Correctional facilities. I had campaign managers inside the prisons yet I only
got five votes.”
The counting of votes was delayed by over three hours at Kwaluseni Central
Primary School Polling Station. This was after the MP and indvuna yenkhundla
nominees demanded the results from all the Correctional Services facilities, so
they would know how many votes they garnered. When one of the EBC officials told
the nominees that it would be a futile exercise given the time they demanded the
results from the prisons, it angered the nominees to an extent that tempers
flared. Some of the nominees said: “As EBC proclaims that it conducts free and
fair elections, we feel it is not fair if the prison results are not provided
before today’s votes are counted. We do not want to celebrate prematurely
based on today’s results when we do not know how many votes we got from the
prisons. We are prepared to wait the whole night until the results are given to
us,” said one of the nominees.
Unacceptable
An explanation from the EBC officials seemed unacceptable as they tried to
explain why the results were not made public at the time. A back and forth
ensued but almost four hours later, the results were eventually released. Sifiso
Shongwe got the highest number of votes from the HMCS, which were 25 while
Dlamini got five. The counting of votes was eventually completed at 6am. When
responding to the opening of a ballot box, which Dlamini alleged was opened at
the Matsapha Correctional Centre, EBC Communications Officer Mbonisi Bhembe
rhetorically asked, “How then could the ballot papers be counted if they were
not opened?” Bhembe said Dlamini ought to have known the law governing how
elections were conducted, given that he was the Parliament Portfolio Committee
Chairperson for the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs. He mentioned
that he received the letter and the commission would look into the complaints
but could not pre-empt whether there would be a response to the allegations.