LOCAL GOVT ELECTIONS: DRAMA AS ASPIRANT ASSAULTS WINNER

MBABANE – Drama!

This word best describes what transpired at Ward 6 during the counting of votes after the Local Government Elections were concluded and the winner, Monday Dlamini, was allegedly assaulted by other nominees with open hands and a kick. Ward 6 Mbabane comprises Eveni, Thembelihle and Dalriach West, but the counting of the votes occurred at the Mbabane Central High School Hall on Saturday evening. The bone of contention, according to a source, was that there were two Dlamini surnames from the contesters and the alleged assaulter requested the election officers to call out the names when displaying the votes so that it could be clear whose name had been called out.

Disagreement

The source shared that at that moment, both the assaulter and the victim had a slight disagreement and engaged in an argument and the election officers had to intervene and request that they lower their voices because they were loud and making noise, thus disturbing the process of counting the votes. “Dlamini then told the election officers to continue with counting and ignore the assaulters because they were having a tough time coming to terms with the turnout of the counting of votes. An argument erupted again and the election officers had to intervene again and the argument died down,” revealed the source. The source then shared that seeing that Dlamini was winning; other nominees approached the winner and asked him why he spoke to them in a disrespectful manner.  The source said in the heat of the moment, the successful candidate was assaulted with open hands and fists and he was also kicked while he was down.

The source shared that police, who were stationed at the polling station, quickly intervened and the assaulter was whisked away from the polling station. Dlamini confirmed the assault on him when contacted yesterday. He said he didn’t understand why he was assaulted except to assume that some people failed to accept the results that he was winning. “I did not even see it properly to open a case because at the end of the day, I was winning. However, this is not to say the matter has been concluded because I am yet to engage with my lawyers and they are the ones who will advise me on how to handle the matter,” he said. Elections Coordinator Melusi Hlanze said they were still waiting for reports from the returning officers, hence currently, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development did not have all the information concerning some of the things that transpired during the elections.

Worth noting is that all the 11 Wards in Mbabane had completed voting and counting by evening yesterday. Even though there were issues of ballot papers running out at some of the voting stations, it was positive feedback that was given by the elections coordinator on the elections in the capital city.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: