CALL CONSTITUENTS TO ORDER, PM URGES MPS

EZULWINI – Members of Parliament (MPs) have been encouraged to call to order members of their constituencies.

This was said by the Prime Minister, Cleopas Dlamini, yesterday during the last day of the retreat held for the legislators at the Eswatini Revenue Services (ERS) Auditorium. In vernacular the PM said, “Emalunga nawo vele ayacelwa kutsi akhutsate nawo lekuma constituencies akakhute phela”. He said while their constituencies continued to press them on the several demands which they had, the people and MPs must also play their part. He said it would not work that while government had recently, for example, built an inkhundla structure and had not even furnished it with chairs, the structure was burnt.

Construction

He said this would set everyone back. He said the construction of some schools was not even completed as some did not even have science labs, but those had already been set alight. “I am, therefore, asking you that you talk against what is happening as no one can expect service delivery with all that is going on,” said Dlamini. He said unemployment was reported to be the biggest challenge, but people were burning the very firms which were supposed to employ them. He said if a firm was destroyed yet it was government that was being fought, it made no sense.

The PM said this was a vicious cycle which had to be addressed, adding that it was easy to blame government. He said this would also affect foreign direct investment (FDI) as no one would want to invest in the country.  The PM said they were not against protests, but the destruction of property.  However, a majority of the MPs took exception to the PM’s submission that they should call the people to order (kukhuta).  One of them was Dvokodvweni MP, Mduduzi Magagula, who wondered how he could call for calm under his constituency when government had failed to deliver on its promises.

“How do you tell people to be silent when government has failed to deliver which is what is causing the unrest,” said MP Magagula. In vernacular he said, “sikhuta njani”. The MP said in the case of Sikhuphe residents, people were in 2014 told to stop farming and construction of any structures as government would be bringing them development.  The MP further said government had promised to compensate them for their fields and damaged houses.  He said the houses now had cracks and with the ongoing rains, people were expected to be silent yet for six years there had been no compensation or communication from government. He said he did not know how to call the people to order.

Comfortable

Maseyisini MP Mduduzi ‘Small Joe’ Dlamini said he was also not comfortable with the PM’s statement that they should call their constituents to order. “Utsi asikhute, but the situation is not very easy out there, we do it, but there is a challenge that the same people gave us petitions which have not been discussed,” he stated.  He made an example of the Gege-Sicunusa Road which he stated still was not completed. “The situation is not normal out there, but we are behaving as if it is,” said the MP.  Ndzingeni MP Lutfo Dlamini said the PM must go out to the tinkhundla centres and engage the constituents, in particular the youth.  “You must come and listen to them and give them the microphone so that they can tell you in person what they want,” he said.

He said he was volunteering to work with government in order to achieve this. Ludzeludze MP Vusi Swali said what shocked him about the whole unrest was government’s silence.  He said it was not about the MPs to call people to order. In response, the PM said when he suggested that the MPs call their electorate to order, he did not mean it in a bad way as the MPs had clearly taken it.  He said they would coordinate with the office of the speaker to address all the issues.
He said he understood that working in silos was not good for the entire benefit of the country.  He said this was indeed an unusual situation and they would do whatever possible to address it.   

On another note, the PM said government processes were cumbersome, especially on procurement issues, but they would address some of the bottlenecks. Meanwhile, the Commonwealth expert Dr Roger Koranteng said he wished nothing but peace to prevail in Eswatini. He also called for dialogue to continue.

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