A LEGISLATURE NOT WORTH OUR RESPECT

THE desecration of the legislative arm of government, Parliament, last week during which it emerged that some Members of Parliament were up for sale to the highest bidder among those aspiring to be senators is the manifestation of the level of moral decay of the nation that has blurred the lines between right and wrong.

Bringing to the fore the dubious characters of some of the people’s elected representatives, MPs, an aspirant female senator cried wolf when she was not elected yet she claimed to have bought, at an exorbitant cost, the required number of votes from some of the MPs. Ordinarily there is nothing new here because the buying of votes for Senate seats has long been suspected. Rather it is the shock over the confirmation of these suspicions and the impact this has on what is supposedly a venerable institution.

But, as I see it, not all of us were shocked by the confirmation that indeed MPs sell their votes to the highest bidder if the reaction of the Speaker of the House of Assembly Petros Mavimbela is anything to go by when asked by this newspaper to comment on the issue.

His only concern was that it happened outside Parliament, noting “these were agreements made between the two parties outside the House.” He then suggested that the complainant should approach his office in order to discuss a way forward with the concerned MPs on how the money could be repaid.

Wow! I would have expected a shocked and concerned reaction from the Speaker, but certainly not over how the monies could be repaid but about the moral bearings and calibre of some of the lawmakers. Speaker Mavimbela’s demeanour gives the impression that there was nothing wrong with such transactions with the only concern over repayment since the deal had not gone according to plan.

This somewhat underscores the fact that a majority of the MPs possibly bought their way into the Legislature other than having been elected on merit as per the underlying and primary forte of the Tinkhundla political system. It also gives credibility that in some instances voters were bought and bused from textile firms in Matsapha to vote for their benefactors, which automatically meant that some MPs were in Parliament through fraudulent means.

As I see it, this inherent weakness in the obtaining political hegemony has the potential of populating Parliament with criminals. An example can be drawn from dagga merchants who are perennially awash with cash with their only challenge being how to clean this money.

Thus elections provide the perfect platform through which to launder and racketeer their ill-gotten wealth by buying votes and once in Parliament they also do likewise, sell their votes to the highest bidders aspiring to become senators hence the Speaker’s lukewarm reaction when confronted with the matter. The bottom line is that one day we will wake up to a Parliament of criminals to whom we would have entrusted the future of this country and the nation - that is if that is not the case already.  

One way of stopping the rot dead on its tracks – in the event there was political commitment and rectitude to clean up the Legislature - that I expected from Speaker Mavimbela when approached about this issue was to challenge the female Senate hopeful to name and shame all those MPs she had paid for their votes.

We would have loved to see them being publicly lynched and prosecuted to the limits of the law for bringing the status of the Legislature into disrepute. As it turns out there has been a systemic erosion of respect of office by public officers that is undermining the nation’s moral integrity. 
There was also talk that some individuals had abused the name of the Sovereign, His Majesty King Mswati III, to persuade Speaker Mavimbela to withdraw his candidacy for the position in favour of his predecessor, Themba Msibi.

This has since been disapproved after His Majesty accepted Speaker Mavimbela. Now, instead of sweeping this episode under the carpet those responsible must be named, shamed and also prosecuted for their deeds. Doing so will limit or even put to an end the tendency by individuals to use the name of the King to intimidate people or to achieve their selfish goals. And yes, there is an urgent need to restore the image of the King and, indeed, the institution of the monarchy itself, which have all become too familiar especially to suspected criminals and fraudsters. Otherwise there will come a time when the King and the monarchy will no longer command the respect of the masses.

Similarly, the public cannot be expected to respect the already tainted Legislature that is already in contempt of the court whatever the excurses that have been made to make this go away. Cumulatively, the lawmakers are, through their dishonourable behaviors, drowning this country in political sewerage. After all, to quote Claude Pepper, one of America’s foremost politicians and congressman for over 60 years; “The mistake a lot of politicians make is in forgetting they’ve been appointed and thinking they’ve been anointed.”

Then of course I would not be averse to the political system choking on its own vomit and in fact, to paraphrase Clarence Darrow (1857 – 1938), I would derive great pleasure in reading the obituary of the Tinkhundla political system that is responsible for the wide scale poverty and suffering of the majority of the people. The system should have long been embalmed to put an end to the misery of emaSwati a majority of whom are too afraid to ventilate on their frustrations over the happenings in this country.

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