WHY I WON’T SURRENDER - MP ‘GAWUZELA’

MBABANE – “I will not surrender because I am too busy lobbying the international community.”

This was a statement made by Siphofaneni Member of Parliament (MP), Mduduzi ‘Gawuzela’ Simelane during a live interview with Swaziland News last night. A warrant of arrest was issued against Simelane, while two of his colleagues, with whom he is calling for political change, were arrested a week ago. The two legislators who were arrested are Hosea MP Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Ngwempisi MP Mthandeni Dube. They were arrested for allegedly contravening the Suppression of Terrorism Act, while Mabuza was also separately charged for allegedly contravening Regulation 4 of the Disaster Management (COVID -19) Regulations 2020 under the Disaster Management Act 2006.

List

Simelane has been on the police wanted list for a week after the Crown, last Monday, went public that there was a warrant for Simelane’s arrest, which was issued on the same date as the ones for the pair (Mabuza and Dube) - on July 8, 2021. National Commissioner of Police William Dlamini also confirmed that Simelane was a wanted person and implored him to surrender himself at the nearest police station. Simelane said he was sorry because he could not afford to go to jail and sit there, especially under the current justice system. He said they (together with those he was working with) would upscale their strategies as they were allegedly killed by the security personnel when demonstrating. The legislator said he wanted to suffocate the country’s economy until government submitted to the will of the people. He said those in power should do the will of the people and not what they wanted for themselves. Simelane said he had taken a decision to lay low and avoid social media platforms as well while coordinating their next movement.

He said he could not dismiss the fact that the police would find him if God permitted, but if He (God) did not, they would not find him. “As long as there is breath in my spirit, I will be fighting for the people, which is something I have been doing even before through the programme Makhelwane Simbona Ngetento, which was stopped,” Simelane said. The Siphofaneni MP said he was fighting for the welfare of emaSwati and not because he wanted attention or that he was proud of himself or was campaigning to become the prime minister. He said he wanted emaSwati to have better opportunities in the future. Meanwhile, he stated that emaSwati illegally attended school in South Africa, while elderly people also accessed grants unlawfully in that country.

Enough

He said the country had enough resources and could be the Switzerland of Africa. Simelane said there was wealth in the country but resources only benefitted certain people. He alleged that this was evident as there were people who wore expensive watches that cost E95 million. “This is a lot of money that a lot of emaSwati could share.”  Simelane said those emaSwati who were doing small businesses were not getting support under this current government. Further, he thanked the business community for aligning themselves with politics. He noted that some businesses were not thriving because they were frustrated by the system, while in the outside world they (government) pretended to be supporting the businesses. Simelane alleged that for a business to be successful, they were forced to be in partnership with princes and princesses because if not, they would not prosper.  He stated that everyone was conscious of the fact that they needed to free the country. Simelane said if there were 72 emaSwati who sacrificed their lives to gain freedom, he would not waste his time by allowing himself to get arrested and remain in prison. “The blood of our people is calling from the soil and we must not sit back.”According to the legislator, they will be issuing out a programme when the time is right to be followed by pupils in high schools, calling for them to have a ‘demonstration day’ across the entire country.  “We will see if the security personnel will be able to be present in all these schools,” he added.

Chaos

This, he said, would show the world the chaos that Eswatini was going through. Simelane said he was not encouraging the vandalising of property during the school demonstrations, but there needed to be properly planned demonstrations. These demonstrations, he said, would not be posted on social media, but would be planned secretly.  Further, he appealed to the transport industry, including truck and kombi drivers, to block the roads as well and only allow ambulances to pass if they would happen to be on the roads. “We must frustrate this government by all means,” said the MP. Simelane added that political parties should stop campaigning, but focus on the liberation of the country. He said he did not have a party, but had the burden to free emaSwati.
“The police will find me busy liberating the people of Eswatini,” he said.

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