Jennifer demands apology from Magudvulela

Chief Magudvulela addressing residents at the Ludzibini Royal Kraal.

MBABANE - Former Timphisini  Member of Parliament Jennifer Du Pont wants the secondary elections at Timphisini in the northern Hhohho stopped.

She has since taken Chief Magu-dvulela and the Elections and Boundaries Commission to court and the matter has been filed under a certificate of urgency.
The former legislator, who is a nurse by profession, is now seeking an order declaring the primary elections conducted on August 24, 2013 null and void. She further wants the High Court to direct the Elections and Boundaries Commission to start afresh the primary elections at Ludzibini Chiefdom.

Pending finalisation of this matter Du Pont also wants the EBC to be interdicted from continuing with the secondary elections at Timphisini Inkhundla.

Du Pont, who lost to Apton Ndlovu who has also been cited in her application, wants the court to issue an order compelling Chief Magudvulela to call a community meeting with immediate effect and retract the statement he made.

The former legislator is also seeking an order compelling the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) to declare that she is a competent candidate to be voted for in the position of a Member of Parliament despite her widow status.
She is represented by Manzini based lawyer Nhlanhla Ginindza from N.E Ginindza Attorneys.  Respondents in the matter are the Chairman of the Elections and Boundaries Commission, Chief Magudvulela, the Attorney General and Apton Ndlovu.

She submitted that on August 3, 2013 with three others they were nominated to contest for elections at Ludzibini Chiefdom for Member of Parliament under the Timphisini Inkhundla.

Du Pont alleged that on the date of the primary elections and prior to that date a number of anomalies, in breach of the Constitution and the Elections Act occurred, which in her assessment warrant the annulments of the results.
She stated that in a meeting held at Ludzibini Chiefdom on August 24, 2013 Chief Magudvulela allegedly directly exerted undue influence on the community not to vote for her since she was a widow and allegedly still in mourning.

These are allegations contained in an affidavit whose merits are still to be contested in court.
“I submit that Section 78 declares the action of the chief unlawful and criminal and the effect of such conduct by the chief rendered the election not free and fair and contrary to Section 84(1) of the Constitution, which provides that; subject to the provision of this Constitution, the people of Swaziland have a right to be heard and be represented by their own freely chosen representative in the government of the country,” she said.
She further stated that Lu-dzibini is a predominantly rural chiefdom ruled by Chief Magu-dvulela who is a footstool of the King, hence he commands authority and by Swazi Culture it is expected that his subjects will take heed of his advises.

“I state further that the emphasis placed on the comments made, placed more weight such that they were basically directives more than commentary advice as the following; I urge you not to disappoint the country’s authorities by electing a candidate whom they cannot use because of the technicality of mourning,” she said
Du Pont alleged that the chief, during the meeting, also stated that he was aware of the constitutional right of women to choose to mourn the death of their husbands but Swazi Law and Custom was supreme to women rights.

The chief, according to Du Pont’s application, is alleged to have told the residents that; “loku-phetse tsine laka Ngwane lilanga ne-nyenti khohlwa nge-mtsenshwana wakho ngesiswati sakitisi solo umnyama. Mkh-etseni washa wena lilahle.”

She said to the ordinary man in the area that amounted to a threat of sanction against voting for her as a widow as she was allegedly still mourning despite doing the necessary cleansing ceremony with her in-laws.
She said over and above it was her enshrined constitutional right not to be compelled to undergo or uphold any custom to which her conscience is opposed to.

‘Residents ordered not to vote for me’

MBABANE – Chief Magudvulela is alleged to have not only warned residents of Ludzibini but also ordered them not to vote for Jennifer Du Pont.
This is contained in the former legislator’s application where among other things wants the court to issue an order compelling Chief Magudvulela to retract his statements.

“I also humbly submit that quite a number of people were unwilling to state the same on affidavits in fear of Chief Magudvulela, in particular because of  the threats and utterances which the Elections and Boundaries Commission was dully made aware of through a letter of complaint,” she said.

‘Chief’s statements de-campaigned me’

MBABANE - Jennifer Du Pont the former Timphisini Member of Parliament says the statements allegedly made by Chief Magudvulela directly de-campaigned her as the only widow nominated in the area.

Du Pont said the statements invariably and potentially campaigned for the other candidates who were all not widows, hence the eventual winner Apton Ndlovu allegedly directly benefited from the utterances thus placed him on an advantage.

Violated

 She alleged that the statements were highly discriminatory to her and they resulted in her right to be voted into Parliament violated.
She further submitted that she does not subscribe to the notion of Chief Magudvulela that a widow should not be voted into Parliament since we now live in a society governed by the Constitution, which is the Supreme law of the country.

“I must state that the statements were made before the campaigning stage could commence, which is after the primary elections not prior. I further submit that, it was unfair for the second respondent (Chief Magudvu-lela) an authoritative figure in the community and who commands respect to deprive me of an opportunity to compete fairly with my fellow competitors solely based on my widowed status,” she said.
These are allegations contained in an affidavit whose merits are still to be tested in court.

She further submitted that while she was not willing to take these utterances seriously she could no longer ignore them after observing the sudden twist of events and turnout on her potential voters.

She alleged that some of her potential voters clearly stated that after the verbal advice on August 17, 2013 during the meeting called by the chief they allegedly decided not to vote at all yet they had registered for the exercise.

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