WE DIDN’T SEND YOUTH TO DELIVER PETITIONS – BACEDE

MBABANE – “We did not send the youth to constituencies to deliver petitions.”

This is according to Hosea Member of Parliament (MP) Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza, who was speaking in a video that was played at the High Court yesterday during his and Ngwempisi MP Mthandeni Dube’s trial yesterday. The video is part of the Crown’s evidence in a bid to prove the allegations that the MPs, together with former Siphofaneni MP Mduduzi ‘Gawzela’ Simelane, incited members of the public to riot against government, brought hatred against the King and committed murder, among other offences. In the video, Mabuza was in the company of his two co-accused, former Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) President Quinton Dlamini and Swaziland National Union of Students (SNUS) President Colani Maseko. They all addressed the public.

Mabuza said those who thought that it was he, together with Dube and Simelane, who sent the youth to the constituencies, were wrong. “We are speaking here for the first time. No one here came up with an idea to deliver petitions. EmaSwati wanted this, they stood up and delivered the petitions. We did not send children to deliver petitions,” he said. The Hosea MP mentioned that the election of a prime minister was not about them. He said some MPs supported the call for an elected PM. He said they felt sorry for MPs who created lies yet they had been elected by the people.

Change

The MP mentioned that he wished those MPs could invite him where there were emaSwati who did not want change and an elected PM. “We pity those MPs and emaSwati,” he said.
Concerning the Constitution of the country, Mabuza said it was not produced by fools but by clever people. He said a certain Hosea woman once asked him if the Constitution was a product of the people. “When I look at the Constitution, it was produced by clever people. If we can say we are now using a Constitution that came from Parliament, we would be saying ‘a chicken must prepare water for its own plucking’. That’s why emaSwati should stand and fill the streets, peacefully and shout for what they want.

“Looking at the Constitution, we (MPs) are 99, including senators. Forty (40) of the people are there by grace and 59 came by election. Among the 59 who came by election, the 40 can never ‘boil the water to cook themselves’ because all the 40 live under grace. Let me make it clear, we are not crazy. That is why we are talking on the streets and outside, we have done all the research,” said Mabuza. The Constitution, according to Mabuza, was made to enslave emaSwati. He alleged that there were things that were inputted during the Constitution writing process to enslave all emaSwati. He said this was something they could not reverse, which was why ‘we are saying a chicken cannot prepare water to pluck itself’, it can never happen.

According to Mabuza, the people who made the Constitution at the time allegedly did not intend for it to control them. He stated that for there to be the Constitution in the first place, there were demands, marches and protests. “The only way to change the Constitution is what emaSwati are doing now - delivering petitions in your constituencies,” he said. On another note, Mabuza said they were disappointed with former Acting PM Themba Masuku. He accused Masuku of abusing COVID-19 regulations at the time. “They received power unlawfully to enslave emaSwati because now, tell me, he (Masuku) said buses should be loaded to full capacity and passengers lean against each other. In a wedding and meeting, the social distance was to be 1.5 metres. Does it make sense?  No matter how stupid you are, if we board a bus from Nhlangano, 80 of us leaning against each other, there is no social distancing there and along the way we offload and load passengers. But if we are in a meeting, Masuku says there should be 1.5 metres social distancing, and there should be 50 of us there. In a bus you could be about 80 or 100.

“In short, maSwati, if I can reveal what is so bad about our system, I can tell you a lot. We go to Parliament to do what is in the interest of government. No liSwati is not taxed. You are all paying VAT, whether you are an elderly or a child it does not matter, you are taxed. Others pay income tax. “You are paying exorbitant tax for everything. In the end, when you look for a job, after being taxed all these years, they demand to see your graded tax certificate and you have to pay more money. You ask yourself, the graded tax law is very old, it existed before VAT, but you cannot question it because of who it serves. “An amendment that is forthcoming for the revenue authority. You see, they are thinking of tax, how to take money from the people, and they don’t want to be accountable, because once you call for accountability, you will be arrested. Harassment and everything will be done to you,” Mabuza alleged.

Lies

He said he did not tell lies and that even in Parliament, when 20 other MPs spoke in whatever direction and lied, he would point the lies out. According to Mabuza, what had killed Eswatini was paying respect to stupidity in the name of being respectful. “You have to tell that person that I am also born of a woman just like you, I would like to live well just like you. In life, God has blessed me, but I have decided to stand for the poor. I live life with the poor and I know what I am talking about, how the people are suffering, going around looking for jobs that they will not find,” said the MP. Mabuza said the elderly were given a grant of E500. Ministers, according to Mabuza, drove Toyota Prados which required more than E500 worth of fuel if one wanted to travel to Nhlangano.

“But since this is an elderly woman, she will be given E500 to remove the scales from her eyes and be told that Bacede and ‘Magawugawu’ hate the King. We are not going to be stupid. We do not want to interfere with the King; all we are interested in is an elderly person who worked for, and liberated this country, because even royalty did not liberate the country. “There were people who spoke for the country to be liberated, and there were people who brought the country back to the dark days. The elderly and young people should all live a good life like all other emaSwati. TUCOSWA, maSwati I said it, I am not saying there should be war. I am saying everybody should be straight and speak the truth,” said Mabuza.  COVID-19, alleged Mabuza, was abused by government so that it continued to benefit from the problem. He said emaSwati should be smart and realise that the then acting PM was benefitting from the COVID-19 situation, in that he rushed to try to arrest Simelane using the COVID-19 regulations.

Control

The Hosea MP said that was why ‘he says a bus can load to full capacity because he shows everybody he is not clear what he is talking about, but is trying to control politics’. “We feel really sorry Mr Masuku, we are not that generation you think we are. We are this generation which knows what they do. We cannot be so stupid, you have been in government for years, benefitting without being elected by the people. You change positions, today you are minister of agriculture, tomorrow you are RA then deputy prime minister and today you are acting prime minister. You are benefitting, on taxpayers’ money without qualifications, while the people who have got qualifications, are on the street eating nothing,” Mabuza said. He also pointed out that emaSwati believed in ancestors for years. He said ancestors and being bewitched would never rule the country.

“We will be governed by the will of the majority and the will of God. Let us be free from that generation that believes we will die. I have been bewitched for several years and they are going to bewitch me again, I won’t die. Only God knows me and my life. I will die at God’s appointed time. No one can kill me when God says no. “To those who are afraid of being bewitched, we are the victims of change. We are not afraid of being bewitched. We are not afraid of being stopped along the road and being insulted. We are not afraid of hearing sirens making noise so that when they pass, other cars should move to the side. We are saying we want our country to be free. For years we lived a life that we did not want.”

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