Times Of Swaziland: PARLIAMENT’S 8-YR DEFIANCE OF CONSTITUTION

PARLIAMENT’S 8-YR DEFIANCE OF CONSTITUTION
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BY MFANUKHONA NKAMBULE on 03/03/2019 03:26:00


mfanukhona@times.co.sz
MBABANE – MPs are the custodians of the law.
This is because their primary responsibility is to enact, pass and protect the
laws.
By virtue of this responsibility, they are regarded as custodians of the law.
However, they are breaking the law. Specifically, they are notably breaking the
Constitution of the Kingdom of Swaziland (Eswatini).  Parliament passed the
Constitution to an Act in 2005. It has been established that MPs were
perceivably disregarding Section 218 of the Constitution, which is considered
the supreme law of the land.
SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT
According to section 218, Parliament shall within five years of the commencement
of the Constitution provide for the establishment of a single countrywide system
of local government. Obviously, this has not been done despite the fact that
they have the capacity to pass the laws as evidenced by their enacting of 26
Acts of Parliament in 2018.
In essence, MPs should have set up the single countrywide system of local
government in 2010.  A period of five years within the commencement of the
Constitution equates to 2010 or before. It is uncertain when the Tinkhundla and
Regional Administration Bill, which was drafted during the tenure of office for
Prince Gcokoma, the ex-Minister of Tinkhundla Administration and Development,
will be tabled or piloted in Parliament.
Prince Gcokoma is the current Manzini Regional Administrator. In 2014,
Parliament instructed Mduduzi ‘Small Joe’ Dlamini, the then Minister of
Tinkhundla, to come up with a law that would comply with Section 218 of the
Constitution. MPs pointed out that there was a need to have a law that would
bring government closer to the people. Dlamini had not done so when his term of
office expired last year. It remains to be seen if David ‘Cruiser’
Ngcamphalala, the current Minister of Tinkhundla, will pilot the Bill in
Parliament.
It is stated in the Constitution that the single countywide system of local
government must be based on the Tinkhundla system of government, hierarchically
organised according to the volume of complexity of service rendered. The system,
according to the supreme law, must be integrated to avoid urban/rural dichotomy.
Dichotomy is a division or contrast between two things that are or are
represented as being opposed or entirely different.
It is worth mentioning though that Prince Gcokoma, the former Minister of
Tinkhundla Administration and Development, tried to comply with the constitution
by taking to Cabinet Tinkhundla and Regional Administration Bill of 2010. David
‘Cruiser’ Ngcamphalala, the Minister of Tinkhundla Administration and
Development, said he had briefed on the Bill, but was yet to look into it. He
said they would have an opportunity to look at it and seek advice from the
Attorney General on its contents and significance.
Ngcamphalala joined Cabinet in 2013. He served in the administration of deceased
Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini. He was reappointed to Cabinet last year by His
Majesty the King.
Mduduzi ‘Small Joe’ Dlamini, the ex-Minister of Tinkhundla, said he had done
a lot of work with regard to the law by the time he vacated office last year.
Dlamini said they had extensively consulted over the matter, and all
controversies surrounding the Bill were removed. He said he might give details
on the issue in due course.
Speaker Petros Mavimbela asked to comment on the issue at a later stage after he
had consulted widely over it.