Home | Letters | LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS

15/06/2023 08:12:00 Editor

Font size:

Sir,

Reference is made to an article that appeared on Page 8 of the Times of Eswatini on Wednesday, May, 31 2023, titled ‘ Uproar after 6 candidates disqualified’. The noise surrounding the way the local government elections are being mismanaged, to include certain individuals being prevented from putting their names forward to stand for election as a town councillor, would appear not to be unique to the Siteki and Piggs Peak Town Councils. I recently attended an open monthly meeting of the Malkerns Town Board. In the more enlightened municipal councils and town boards, interested observers are allowed to engage, but only if invited to do so by the chair. The strategy adopted by the town clerk/CEO of the administration team has always been to keep ratepayers and residents of Malkerns at a respectable distance and not to engage in any meaningful way.

Mismanaged

I must, therefore, now raise my concerns on how the local government elections are being mismanaged in Malkerns through your editorial page.It is too easy to point a finger of blame at the returning officer for any errors made. In my opinion, the town clerk/CEO of the administration team must also take his share of the responsibility for not properly briefing the returning officer. Had he done so, the returning officer would have been aware that there is one nominee, a liSwati business owner in Ward 2, who satisfies the definition of a voter and who also has a written arrangement to spread the payments monthly on any rates due on his local business. Yet his nomination for election as a town councillor was rejected by the returning officer because he had not been properly briefed by the town clerk/CEO. As a result a bona fide candidate in Ward 2 has had his nomination for election as a town councillor wrongly rejected by the returning officer because he/she did not have a proper rate clearance and was apparently in default on rates due. The returning officer has to depend on the accuracy of the information received.

Certification

While the Malkerns voters roll is subject to certification by the returning officer, it is also subject to formal ratification by the town clerk. Yet the final Malkerns voters roll is littered with discrepancies that include the duplication of registrants, which really should have been picked up by the administration team and corrected prior to the final listing just being rubber stamped by the town clerk as correct on May 15, 2023.Worryingly, there also appears to be continuing uncertainty on the part of the CEO/town clerk and his administration team as to whether a citizen of Eswatini, who is a resident only and, therefore, not liable to pay rates, can stand for election as a town councillor. Section 10(1)(h) of the Urban Government Act 1969, read in conjunction with the Urban Government (Elections) Regulations 1969, makes it very clear that only bona fide ratepayers can stand for election.

Clearance

Yet, we now appear to have a serious situation in Ward 1 (and possibly other Wards too), where individuals who are residents only and who, in at least one case, does not satisfy the six-month residency rule and does not pay rates. Yet they are being provided with irrelevant rate clearance certificates by the Malkerns administration team so that they can stand for election as town councillors. This cannot be correct and needs to be properly investigated and put right if the newly-appointed town council is to start off on the right footing.In my opinion, it was never the intention of the legislation for the ratepayers of Malkerns to be represented by non-rate paying residents. Nor for an inequitable situation to arise where a ratepayer, who is also a resident, can be disqualified from election or appointment to the Malkerns Town Board for being in default of payment of rates owed, for a period exceeding three months after the due date; yet a resident, who is only the occupier and not the owner of a property, is seemingly immune from disqualification.

Discriminated

In effect, the ratepayers of Malkerns are being discriminated against and there is the real possibility of them being represented ultra vires by non-rate paying residents, who do not exercise fiscal prudence, nor do they have the ratepayers’ best interests at heart.Respectfully, the minister of Housing and Urban Development and the Local Government Elections Coordinator now need to intervene if the local government elections in Malkerns are to have any real credibility and the town clerk/CEO is not to have yet another unwelcome and costly court case in his hands; in addition to the two rating related court cases, which are currently pending and subject of judicial review in both the High Court and Supreme Court.

Mike Drew

Right to Reply

Thank you editor for affording the Malkerns Municipality the right of reply to the matters raised by Mike Drew. We view this privilege as an opportunity to educate other interested readers on the matters of local government elections and administration.Space is certainly limited editor for the undersigned to unpack the entire process of local government elections, from registration of voters to the inauguration of elected and appointed councillors. The Malkerns municipality has conducted several civic education sessions for property owners, business community and residents within the jurisdiction regarding local government elections. We will, therefore, confine ourselves to matters raised by the author of the letter. After receipt of applications for registration from interested and qualifying citizens, the town clerk compiles a draft voters roll. The function of the town clerk technically ends at that point. The draft roll is presented to the returning officer, who is the chief electoral officer for the jurisdiction in question. The returning officer then opens and publicises a period of claims and objections on the draft voters roll, wherein whosoever contests the contents of the draft voters roll is afforded the opportunity to lodge a claim or objection.

The returning officer hears and determines the claims and objections. After these have been fully liquidated, and amendments thereof made, the returning officer certifies the voters roll. There is no ‘briefing’ whatsoever required from the town clerk to the returning officer. The processes are clear and regulated by law, the Urban Government Act No.8 of 1969 and the accompanying Urban Government (Elections) Regulations, 1969. Further, the town clerk has no hand in the nomination of candidates and processes thereof. Regulation 3 of the Urban Government (Elections) Regulations, 1969 provides a clear profile of who qualifies to register as a voter, and by extension can be nominated to stand for elections. Section 10 of the Urban Government Act No.8 of 1969 provides a profile of registered voters who do not qualify to stand for election, appointment and continuing as a councillor. Again the town clerk has nothing to do with the profiles or the processes of determining whether registered voters can or cannot stand for elections. The law, as duly executed by the returning officer, regulates all these matters. It is, therefore, misleading to insinuate that the town clerk could have ‘briefed’ the returning officer regarding whether or not nominees qualify to stand for elections. That could even be tantamount to interference by the town clerk on the legitimate functions of the returning officer.

Lastly editor, the question of whether or not non-property owners should stand for elections is conclusively settled by the above-cited legislative instruments, and again town clerks in all municipalities have neither role nor control in that matter. While we appreciate the interest that the author of the letter takes on matters of the Malkerns Municipality, we appeal for accuracy of information he and others may wish to place in the public domain. We may also state that it is not wrong for aggrieved individuals to approach the courts of the land for relief. The conventional tenets of the rule of law allow and encourage such. Our apologies editor for taking up much space, it was imperative that we put the matters raised into proper perspective. Thank you.
Town Clerk
(Malkerns Municipality)