Times Of Swaziland: Give rotten food to public - Mtsambama MP

Give rotten food to public - Mtsambama MP
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 BY NONTOBEKO TSHABALALA on 06/06/2013 01:31:00


LOBAMBA – Mtsambama Member of Parliament (MP) Mlamuli Dlamini yesterday
stunned his colleagues when he suggested that the rotten food should be
distributed to the public.
This was during the debate preceding the adoption of the Deputy Prime
Minister’s Portfolio Committee on inspection of rotten food at the Matsapha
Central Government Warehouse. The report was successfully adopted.
While MPs expressed their sadness over the situation, Dlamini said the food
should still be given to the people.
“The people are starving. I would suggest that we give them the food in the
warehouse batsi lelambile iyaludla ludzaka. There are people in the kingdom who
eat cow dung in order to take their pills, it is better for them to eat rotten
beans than the dung,” he said to the murmurs of his colleagues in the august
House.
Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo vehemently dissociated himself from the
other MP’s suggestion stating that he did not believe that the public deserved
rotten food.
“I do not want to associate with that, I don’t think that any sector of our
population deserves rotten food. The inefficiency of an ineffective government
should not be at the expense of the people, they should not suffer because of
it,” Khumalo said.
He went on to state that some Cabinet ministers lacked empathy as was evident in
the way they handled issues. He said unless someone had been elected by the
people into Parliament it would be impossible for them to understand the
pressures of the people.
Acting Committee Chairperson Mbabane West MP Johane Shongwe said the situation
proved that there were negligent people in the country who were simply careless
to be vigilant.
He wondered how the Deputy Prime Minister, Themba Masuku, had allowed the food
to rot.
Also expressing his dismay at the situation was Hlane MP Mduduzi Magagula who
said when he had gone to the warehouse he was met by huge rats that he believed
lived better than most Swazis.
They called for the situation to be immediately addressed and for one of the
recommendations in the report to be immediately adhered to. The recommendation
stated that the food at the warehouse be dispatched and distributed to the
people in the various Tinkhundla centres.
Shongwe said there was no way that rotten food would be given to the people of
Mtsambama