Times Of Swaziland: PETITION DELIVERED OUTSIDE PARLY AFTER POLICE BLOCK MARCH

PETITION DELIVERED OUTSIDE PARLY AFTER POLICE BLOCK MARCH
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 BY SIBUSISO ZWANE on 16/03/2018 00:46:00


LOBAMBA – Commotion almost erupted as police officers blocked leaders of civil
society groups, community based organisations and political parties from
delivering their petition to Parliament yesterday.
The petition had a clear message to the Members of Parliament (MPs); ‘citsani
le budget ya 2018/19 ngelifasitelo or else nalo lilahle emhlane wenu (reject the
national budget of 2018/19 or else woe unto you).
The initial plan was that the organisation’s leaders would march from Somhlolo
National Stadium to the Parliament gate where they would hand over the petition
to Clerk to Parliament Ndvuna Dlamini.
However, it was eventually delivered to the clerk’s representative at the
traffic circle leading to Parliament after the police blocked them.
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About 100 leaders of the organisations, which were organised under the banner of
the Swaziland Economic Justice Network (SEJUN), assembled at Somhlolo National
Stadium yesterday at around 11am with the intention of marching to Parliament to
deliver their petition.
However, upon arrival at the venue, they found that about 30 police officers had
already been deployed, some of whom were diverting traffic from the main road to
use the one going behind Somhlolo National Stadium.
Later on, some senior officers convened a short meeting with the coordinators of
the march where they were given two options of delivering the petition. The
first one was that they select a 10-member committee that would go to deliver
the petition while the rest of them waited outside just before the traffic
circle.
The other option was to call upon the representative of the clerk to come and
receive the letter near the traffic circle.
The main reason of not allowing the rest of the leaders of the organisations to
march to Parliament was that they would disturb Labadzala. On the other hand,
the participants argued that they had a right to witness the petition delivery.
Again, they argued that they did not prefer to deliver the petition outside
Parliament premises (esigangeni) because there would be no proof that they went
to Parliament as the recipient could deny it.
Therefore, the participants resolved to march and force the police out of their
way to deliver the petition.
watched
However, immediately when they got into the road towards the traffic circle, the
police, who were mostly armed with batons, formed a line across the road while
those carrying guns watched from a distance.
The participants tried to divert from the main road and marched across the
traffic circle but more police officers joined their colleagues to extend the
barrier. Thereafter, the participants sang provocative political songs while
dancing and toyi- toying in front of police officers.
After they were satisfied that they had successfully blocked the marchers, the
police then introduced the representative of the clerk who received the petition
from SEJUN Coordinator Jerome Shongwe and Chairperson Bonginkhosi Ntshangase.
The recipient of the petition, who was identified as Ngcamphalala, promised to
deliver it to the rightful office.
He also promised them that the issues would be addressed and they would be given
feedback in due course.
Meanwhile, Ntshangase emphasised that the MPs should reject the budget which was
tabled by the Minister of Finance, Martin Dlamini, and put in place a people’s
budget that would ensure inclusivity, transparency and participation.