REQUEST FOR MARCH TO US EMBASSY FORWARDED TO REPS – MUNICIPALITY

MBABANE – The Ezulwini Municipality has acknowledged receipt of the request to march to the United States (US) Embassy by members of the Political Party Assembly (PPA) on Friday.

The municipality’s Chief Executive Officer, Vusi Matsebula, confirmed receipt of the notice of gathering from the PPA, adding that same was forwarded to the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS). Matsebula said according to the Public Order Act, 2017 the municipality forwarded the request to the police.

Notice

The Public Order Act, under Section 8 (1) states that: “A local authority that receives at least four days’ notice of an intended gathering shall immediately determine in consultation with the police, whether it is necessary to consult as contemplated in this section on any amendments to be made to the notice, if there are any conditions to be attached to the conduct of the gathering or the prohibition of the gathering.” The Act also includes any other arrangements to ensure the protection of the interests of the public order, public safety, public health or public morals or to ensure that the rights and freedoms of those who live, work, shop, trade and carry on business in the locality of the gathering are not unduly restricted.

Furthermore, the Public Order Act, under notice of gatherings in Section 6(1), states that the convenor of a gathering shall as soon as possible, but not later than four days before the date of the intended gathering, deliver by hand to the local authority a written notice of a gathering, signed by the convenor in accordance with the provisions of the section and substantially in the form set out in Schedule I. According to wanted Siphofaneni Member of Parliament Mduduzi ‘Gawuzela’ Simelane, they did not care if the municipality would issue the permit to march or not, but had decided that they would continue with their planned activity. “We have written a letter of request and the PPA was proactive,” said Simelane. He said whether or not the US ambassador was around, they would not be deterred.

Rumours

Simelane stated that there were circulating rumours that the march was being funded by the Americans, something which had angered the embassy. This, he said, was far from the truth and pure propaganda. “We are not funded by the Americans and this should not anger them as they know how government operates,” he said on Sunday night on the ‘Family Meeting’ on the Swaziland News online platform. He said they hoped that their members would come in numbers following that they regrouped after the first attempt to march was not approved.

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