PM MUST CONSIDER CABINET RESHUFFLE - MPS

LOBAMBA - Is it high time the Prime Minister, Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini, considers a Cabinet reshuffle?

Members of Parliament (MPs) yesterday asked the PM if he was still happy with his current team of ministers. “Do you still have a good team and is this a winning team?” wondered Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo during the annual budget debate of the PM’s Office by the House of Assembly Portfolio Committee. MP Khumalo said his question was based on the performance of some of the Cabinet ministers whom during the debate of their ministries budgets were not convincing. “Are you sure that you do not want to consider other MPs for appointment as ministers, for example MP Mthandeni Dube?” asked Khumalo. He said from his observations, some of the Cabinet ministers were not performing well.   

MP Khumalo further highlighted that the current government had already broken Section 67 of the Constitution in the appointment of ministers. He told the prime minister that Section 67 (2) was clear that the King shall appoint ministers from both chambers of Parliament on the recommendation of the PM. He said Subsection 3 continued to read that at least half the number of the ministers shall be appointed from among the elected members of the House. However, he said this was not the case as 11 of the current ministers were not elected while only nine of them had been elected.

Crucial

Khumalo further stated that there were crucial ministries which in other countries the ministers were those elected, such as the Finance minister and that of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Khumalo further stated that 22 years ago, they had the pleasure of being able to meet with the likes of the late DPM Arthur Khoza, who taught them politics.
He said they welcomed all ideas instead of what was happening nowadays that if you had different opinions, then you were viewed as being against the Tinkhundla System of Governance.

He said ex-PM Absalom Themba Dlamini (AT) had been a dream to work with because he accepted diverse views. “Then came in the late PM Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini, who was of the view that if you did not follow his views, you were wrong,” said Khumalo. Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker Phila Buthelezi said there was a need for government to call a referendum which would in turn amend the Constitution of the kingdom. He said Sibaya was also not the right forum for it and government needed a structured set-up for the referendum.   
MP Buthelezi said there was a lot that was now not in line with the Constitution and, therefore, a referendum was highly necessary, particularly since the Constitution belonged to the people who would then express their views.

He made an example that the Constitution still referred to the country as Swaziland yet it was now Eswatini. He said although there was a legal notice changing the name of not the country to Eswatini, such notice could supersede the Constitution, which was the supreme law of the land.

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