SENATE ELECTIONS: NEW FACES DOMINATE, 3 EX-SENATORS BACK

MBABANE – Anxiety, uneasiness, gloominess, comebacks and celebrations are some of the adjectives that best describe the Senate elections exercise held in the House of Assembly yesterday.

Members of Parliament (MPs) exercised their power conferred to them by Section 94 (2) of the Constitution as 10 of the 30 senators have been elected. The section reads as follows, “Ten senators, at least half of whom shall be female, shall be elected by the members of the House in such manner as may be prescribed by or under any law at their first meeting so as to represent a cross-section of the Eswatini society.”

Elected

New faces make up 70 per cent of the elected Senate-elects as only three from the 11th Parliament made it through.These are former Deputy Senate President Ndumiso Mdluli, former Minister of Health Lizzie Nkosi and Tony Sicalisa Sibandze. Lorraine Nxumalo, though new in Senate, was a Regional MP in the 11th Parliament. After a busy exercise, highlighted by glitches of power cuts and freezing microphones, Fezeka Dlamini was the first to heave a sigh of relief after amassing 14 votes, surpassing the quota of 12 votes for one to be declared a winner.

The ‘ladies first’ phrase came into play as MPs cast their votes under the female category, looking to single out five of their preferred candidates. Dlamini’s name became a familiar sound to the ears of the MPs and attendees before she was declared the first female winner with 14 original votes, having surpassed the quota.

The Senate Elections Act of 2013 entails that those who without original votes after the reading of the ballot papers will be eliminated and these included Cheshire Homes Director Khabo Dlamini and Mcebo Shongwe. Others to be eliminated for having the least number of votes, as entailed in the Act, included former Deputy Prime Minister’s wife Dimpho Masuku, former senators Busi Dlamini and Khanyisile Malambe and their ballot papers were read again to determine the other preferred candidates from the second to the last number that the MP opted for and these votes were referred to as transferred votes.

Former Lubombo Region MP (Nxumalo) was the second to be declared the winner, after amassing nine original votes and three transferred votes. Eswatini Tourism Authority (ETA) Chief Executive Officer Linda Nxumalo, ex-Minister of Health Lizzie Nkosi and Lindiwe Ngwenya were the third, fourth and fifth women to be declared winners.

Comeback

The biggest comeback, after hope was slowly fading away, was Nkosi, who was trailing behind by at least four votes when others had already been declared winners.  Her votes accumulated at a tortoise pace, but eventually did the trick for her, surpassing those of Sibongile Ndlela, who was in front by seven votes. Nkosi couldn’t hide her joy and she described her victory ‘miraculous’. In the male category, which had 22 participants after the withdrawal of Senate hopeful Bhutana Dlamini, it had people whispering in awe as some popular figures did not receive any original votes, only for them to be eliminated as per the Act.

Former insurance professional and Sports Administrator Zombodze Magagula, two-time senator and Sports Administrator Adam ‘Bomber’ Mthethwa were among those who were eliminated for amassing zero original votes. Siphelele Majaha Mkhonta set the pace among the men, amassing 13 original votes to be declared the first winner, leaving the competition to the 21 persons in the race. Former Senator Tony Sibandze was the second to be declared the winner, amassing 12 votes, which are equal to the quota. The biggest comebacks in the male category were observed with Ndumiso Mdluli and former Maphalaleni MP Sicelo Qedusizi Dlamini, whose votes, for some moment, were jammed in one place, but employed the pace of a snail to award them an unbelievable victory. Sicelo was another winner who labelled his victory as ‘miraculous’.

Surpassed

Promising candidates like Thokozani Mamba and Simanga Tfwala were eventually surpassed by Mdluli and Dlamini despite their names being frequent at the beginning of the reading of the ballot papers. Following the successful election of the 10 senate-elects, the expectation is that His Majesty King Mswati III will appoint 20 senators into Parliament as provided for by Section 94 93 of the country’s supreme law. The section reads as follows: “Twenty senators, at least eight of whom shall be female, shall be appointed by the King acting in his discretion after consultation with such bodies as the King may deem appropriate.” The Senate-elects will then be sworn in at the Senate at a date that will be announced by the Clerk to Parliament Benedict Xaba.”

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