‘DIRTY’ MONEY MUST BE DIVORCED FROM ELECTIONS – BENNETT

MBABANE – Following the can of worms opened by MP Marwick Khumalo that money cannot be divorced from elections, businessman Walter Bennett has his own view on the issue.

Though in agreement with the statement, the businessman is, however, of the view that it is dirty money that should be divorced from politics. “Lemali lesikhuluma ngayo ngunayi yekuganga,” he said in vernacular. Asked to be clear, Bennett said the money that cannot be divorced from politics is the one that can be used in the proper sense and regulated as per the provisions of existing laws. Also, he said the money that cannot be divorced from the elections that candidates will freely declare and account for. His definition of dirty money, he said, is one that is not regulated by any law and comes in the form of enticing someone secretly.

experienced

Khumalo, an experienced politician who represents the Lobamba Lomdzala Inkhundla made a submission at the House of Assembly last week to the effect that it was not possible to divorce money from elections. This was during the nomination of aspiring regional women Members of Parliament (MPs) and he made the submission that was directed to some of the women who had come to be nominated. “As we are about to begin this exercise, we have heard that some of the people we have come to nominate have publicly claimed that they have not paid money to anyone to secure votes. These people are the very same ones we are here to nominate,” the seasoned politician submitted. He then posed a question in vernacular saying, “Anikakhiphi imali lefunwe bobani?’’  Loosely translated, this means, “You are saying you did not pay any money, who asked for it?”. He then asked to know who exactly had asked for money from them.

Khumalo then mentioned that if the aspiring MPs choose to go to the media to make such claims they should not expect the MPs to vote for them. “The important thing to note is that when it comes to elections, the issue of money is covered in law. What is left is for the Legislature to fix the law that relates to the election of senators. This will allow the component of using money to campaign to be accommodated,” Khumalo said.

offered

The Lobamba Lomdzala MP furthered offered clarification, saying he was referring to the Elections and Expenses Act No.5 of 2013. This is an Act that provides for the supervision and administration of election expenses and provide for a regime of accountability for funds used for election campaigns. During an interview with this publication, Bennett started by stating that the more people engaged and debated issues, the better the outcome. “Regarding the statement by Marwick, clearly from his angle he knows what he is saying. But what I am saying is that nothing in the world can be divorced from money. Money is the foundation of it all. Whenever a country has a people, among them is an economy which is measured by money,” he said. He mentioned that the question that should be asked was why the House of Assembly was allowing itself to send candidates to Senate, where some of them had paid for that privilege, which is afforded to emaSwati by the country itself and Ingwenyama. In his view, no one has the right to manipulate such a privilege for personal gain.

exchange

According to the businessman, it was common knowledge that the MPs had, in the past, been engaging in the exchange of cash for votes and that the way to stop such acts was for them to take a conscious decision. “It is polluting the politics of the kingdom, and in particular, the Tinkhundla System of Government, where the basis is direct representation based on merit,” Bennett said. Elaborating, Bennett said the Tinkhundla System talks about individual merit and not money. Asked to explain his view in relation to the Act cited by Khumalo, he said there was nothing wrong with candidates having to pay for things, such as transport in their campaigns but that there was nowhere in the law where it said there was to be money forked out for alcohol and food. “In my view, this is a House of Assembly issue. By making it to Parliament through bribery and obviously the more noise you make in the House, the more money you will make from outside is a big problem for the country. It leads to cases where others members intimidate parastatals, as they can be threatened that their budgets will not pass if they do not spend on them,” he said.

When asked what exactly needed to be done in order to avoid incidents of bribery during elections, Bennett said the MPs needed to subscribe to the spirit of integrity. “They need to subscribe to the calling as they have been elected to represent the interests of the people and not promote corruption. MPs must not accept dirty money and go on to use it to build development structures in their constituencies,” he said.

illicit

Asked to state how the MPs could avoid using money sourced through illicit means, he said all that they needed to do when bring about development in their constituencies was make use of the Rural Development Fund (RDF). Still on what needed to be done, Bennett recounted how in the late 1990s, there were reports of aspiring senators giving MPs goats and cows in order to secure seats, something he said was a sign that a lot has been going wrong for years. “We have all been alive and nothing has been done about it and today, we are at E1 million for votes. We all need to make a contribution to stop this. Parliament, Judiciary and Cabinet need to play their part,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Senate elections were conducted at the House of Assembly on October 12, 2023, where 34 individuals nominated by MPs contested for 10 seats. After the conclusion of the exercise, allegations resurfaced to the effect that some of the MPs were allegedly bribed by some of the Senate candidates to vote for or give them preferential votes. So serious were the allegations, such that some of the candidates were alleged to have spent up to E1 million paying some of the MPs to ensure that they secured the much-needed votes. It was then reported that both the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) had launched investigations into the bribery allegations.

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