MOTION FOR GOVT TO PROVIDE FOODSTUFF FOR HUNGRY PASSED

LOBAMBA - If a motion passed in Parliament yesterday is anything to go by, government will soon provide foodstuff like maize meal, beans, cooking oil and other basic commodities to needy families countrywide.

The motion was moved by Lobamba Lomdzala Member of Parliament (MP) Marwick Khumalo, who moved that the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM), Thulisile Dladla, should make it happen that government provides foodstuff like maize meal, beans, cooking oil and other basic commodities. Khumalo said the motion is necessitated by the fact that there are many citizens of the country who are languishing in abject poverty yet the issue was debated extensively by the House during the Budget Speech early this year.

Khumalo moved that the DPM was required to give a report to the House on how government was planning to pursue or execute the resolution of the House on the matter within seven days. When moving the motion, MP Khumalo submitted that the poverty situation was discussed by the House previously, which was a sign that it was a national issue as it affected almost all the constituencies in the country. Also, Khumalo said, he had engaged with the DPM and the latter shared what she was willing to do. Khumalo said the reality in the country was that poverty was persisting and affecting many families.

Starving

In vernacular he said, “Live lilambile. Sive silambile,” which means, “The country is starving, the citizens are hungry”. He said if he were to request all MPs to share their experiences with vulnerable citizens there was a lot that would come out. Also, he said he was sure that none of the MPs could come out and say that they had never been faced with a situation whereby they had to take from the little they had just to assist poverty-stricken families. “I would have to clap hands with that MP because it would mean that they are lucky. Where I come from, you witness poverty in the morning when you wake up and at the end of the day. Now, we can only do so much as parliamentarians but there is a government that is in place and has to play its part,” he said.

Elaborating, Khumalo said in previous years, when faced with the same challenge, government stood up and presented 1 000 50kg maize meal bags to each and every constituency. At the time, he said, there were about 55 constituencies in the country but government managed to accommodate all of them. Besides the maize meal, the MP said, government also dished out 500 bags of beans to each and every constituency. “The communities came together to share what government had dished out. It was not everyone who received though, because in each and every constituency, the elders do know the families where the situation is very bad. The people know each other and there are people who handle the issues of poverty-stricken families,” he submitted.

The Lobamba Lomdzala MP said even though it was not much, but it helped and saved lives of emaSwati. He said in many communities the situation was dire and that those affected included the elderly. “Langephandle sive sidla emacembe,” he said. He said it was not good that the issue was discussed in February during the debate of the Budget Speech and that now it was already the second-half of the year and still nothing had been done. He said the very same emaSwati who ae living in abject poverty are the very same ones who committed themselves to honouring the obligation whenever they are called by the authorities for national duties or events. “I do not think we are on the right side of God if we do not take care of these people. I, therefore, request the support of the House to have this motion passed, so that the lives of emaSwati can be saved”.

Confided

He mentioned that he was encouraged by a conversation he had with the DPM, as the latter confided that there was about E120 million budgeted for the fight against poverty in the country. The DPM, according to Khumalo, stated that about E40 million would be needed to cater for the provision of the foodstuff as per the motion. The MP said for as long as there is a minister of Finance and prime minister (PM) in the country, there would not be any obstacle in getting the E40 million. “It does not matter how long the foodstuff will help the people for,, what is important is that it will make a difference.

“We do not have to be pessimistic. The people are hungry,” Khumalo submitted. Khumalo was seconded by MP Mduduzi Mantunta Dlamini who reiterated that indeed, the MPs had already spent so much purchasing food hampers for the electorate and that such happened even before they were elected. As expected, almost all the MPs stood up to make their submissions, however, Minister of Tourism and Environmental Affairs Jane Simelane, who stood in for the DPM, stood up and submitted that the motion was accepted.

Important

“We request to take this motion and submit a report within seven days as specified. This is an important issue which needs to be given priority because it is a fact that the people are hungry out there. As MPs, we see this every day in the constituencies that we represent,” she said. The minister said it was painful to find community members in the morning outside one’s home, who have come to request assistance with food and witness the same when one returned back home. She said the Office of the DPM, through the leadership of the PM was working on the issue and will act soon as expected.

After her submission, the debate was adjourned and MP Khumalo closed it by thanking his colleagues for the support. However, Khumalo said the adjournment deprived them of an opportunity to hear the MPs detail the challenges faced in the rest of the constituencies. “I thank the minister for receiving this motion well and the MPs for standing up in numbers to support the motion. “We are fortunate that we have the PM in our presence and, because he is someone who understands well issues of the vulnerable,  “I do believe that he will not take this one lightly,” Khumalo submitted.

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