OVER 500 WANTED OUT OF VOTERS ROLL AT KAMKHWELI

SIPHOFANENI – Over 500 people are reportedly wanted out of the voters roll at KaMkhweli under Siphofaneni Constituency.

KaMkhweli Chiefdom is under Siphofaneni Constituency, located about 52 kilometres southeast of Manzini and is led by Prince Mshengu. Until Tuesday, wherein His Majesty King Mswati III declared 59 vacant seats in Parliament, it was represented by Nomalungelo LaZwide Simelane, for about 12 months. She took over from the President of the Swaziland Liberation Movement (SWALIMO), Mduduzi ‘Gawuzela’ Simelane, after his seat was declared vacant in Parliament as he missed 20 consecutive sittings. He is currently in self-exile.
Meanwhile, the individuals said to be a cause for concern among the residents are supposedly unknown to many people within the polling station.

Elections

It is claimed that some of the people who have registered to partake in the general elections under this polling station are not from area. These individuals were reportedly identified by community members when verifying the voters roll and they raised their concerns with the Elections and Bounderies Commission (EBC) officers. Sources from the community claimed that after pointing out of these individuals, some community members registered their concern with the EBC officers; however, it was claimed that the stationery used for this was not sufficient. A form should be filled in when filing a complaint with the EBC.

According to the sources, the community members decided to photocopy the form in order to register the individuals who were unknown to them. One of the community members, *Marvin, alleged that there were foreign nationals who were identified in the voters roll. The foreigners, according to the community member, neither had any business establishments in the area nor homesteads. Instead, Marvin claimed that the foreign nationals listed their residential areas as those in the capital city, Mbabane. “Some of the people claim to be residing in flats at Checkers. We don’t have Checkers in Siphofaneni and we have never seen them,” Marvin claimed. The registered voter purported that in his exercise of establishing unknown people in the community, who had registered to vote at KaMkhweli, he had identified over 120. Another resident, *Caleb, claimed that he had seen people who were from Sithobelweni, Siyendle, Lavundlamanti, Bulunga and even Fairview. The community member supposed that among the people he had seen who were not from his constituency was a blogger of one of the popular Facebook pages discussing political news in the country.

Identified

Caleb supposed that he had viewed the voters roll at KaMkhweli Primary, Mnotfweni Primary and Siphofaneni High. In these three polling stations, he purported to have identified 89 people who were not known to the community and or were not residents of the constituency. Caleb said: “KaMkhweli has a population of less than 2 500 people but seemingly those who seek to vote in the area are over 4 800. Where are they from and why do they want to elect for us someone who may not be accountable to us?” He bemoaned that the people who were listed on the voters roll would arrive on the key days in the election calendar to make decisions for the residents, something that would impact them for the next five years. This, he said, was wrong and would be the source of stalling any prospects of development as the individual they might vote for would not have the interests of the people. Caleb expressed his wish that the validation period could be extended as they (KaMkhweli constituents) only had the voters roll copy from the past Saturday.

He supposed that from what he had gathered from other people, there could be over 500 people who could not be identified despite that they registered to vote at KaMkhweli yet they were not residents and or born thereat. Worth noting is that arson attacks and the vandalising of property started under Siphofaneni Constituency on June 26, 2021. The climax of the violent protest, which was organised to deliver a petition to the then Siphofaneni Constituency legislator (Mduduzi Simelane), started after the community members were stopped from engaging in the exercise.  This was two days after the Acting Prime Minister at the time, Themba Masuku, had suspended the delivery of petitions to constituency centres, with immediate effect. In light of this, police officers were assigned to Siphofaneni to stop the exercise, which did not augur well with the petitioners and they went berserk, setting alight a South African-registered horse and trailer truck after looting its contents – sugar.

Smouldered

Also, just across the Great Usuthu River Bridge, another horse and trailer truck ferrying an excavator was torched. In this incident, the horse was smouldered into ashes with debris of the frame lying on the ground. The chaos was not limited to the torching of the trucks as a shop, run by a Pakistan national, was vandalised and looted as well. The shop belonging to Ahmid Hassan had almost all its contents emptied by people believed to be the protesters, while its owner was asleep within it. The vandals pelted stones on its windowpanes before gaining entry to take some of the items that were in stock. The turmoil, resembling an aftermath of a warzone, was visible along the MR 8 Road (Hhelehhele – Lavumisa Road), cutting through the town of Siphofaneni to Phuzumoya. Worth noting is that Siphofaneni Constituency has seven chiefdoms which are; KaMkhweli, Madlenya, Othandweni, Mphumakudze, Nceka, Ngevini and Tambuti.

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