Times Of Swaziland: MONEY CAN’T BE DIVORCED FROM ELECTIONS - MARWICK

MONEY CAN’T BE DIVORCED FROM ELECTIONS - MARWICK
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Ntombi Mhlongo on 18/11/2023 07:13:00


LOBAMBA – While the nation hopes for answers on allegations of bribery to
secure votes, seasoned MP Marwick Khumalo says it’s impossible to divorce
money from elections.
The Lobamba Lomdzala Member of Parliament (MP) said this when making a
submission during the nomination of aspiring regional women MPs at the House of
Assembly yesterday. This happened just before the start of the exercise, where
Khumalo stood up to make a submission that was directed to some of the women who
had come to be nominated by the MPs.
Nominate
“As we are about to begin this exercise, we have heard that some of the people
we have come to nominate have publicly claimed that they have not paid money to
anyone to secure votes. These people are the very same ones we are here to
nominate,” the seasoned politician submitted. He then posed a question in
vernacular, saying; “Anikakhiphi imali lefunwe bobani?
Aspiring
Loosely translated, this means; “You are saying you did not pay any money, who
asked for it?”.He then questioned as to who exactly had asked for money from
them. Since the aspiring MPs choose to go to the media to make such claims, the
MP said they should not expect the MPs to vote for them.
“The important thing to note is that when it comes to elections, the issue of
money is covered in law. What is left is for the Legislature to fix the law that
relates to the election of senators. “This will allow the component of using
money to campaign to be accommodated,” Khumalo said. He then maintained his
stance, that in as far as the election exercise was concerned, it was impossible
to divorce it from the money element.
Campaigns
Elaborating, Khumalo said even in the election of the 59 MPs at the
constituencies, none of them could claim that they never spent some money during
their campaigns. Again, he spoke in vernacular saying, “Akuyekelwe lokutsi
bese bantfu batishaya bo-Jesus ngatsi”, which means, “People should stop
acting like Jesus at our expense.”
He said it was disappointing to hear the statements from the aspiring MPs, and
warned that there should be less talk if people seriously wanted to be voted
for. When called later on the day, Khumalo stated that he was referring to the
Elections Expenses Act No.5 of 2013.
Supervision
This is an Act which provides for the supervision and administration of election
expenses and provides for a regime of accountability for funds used for election
campaigns. “We are given forms to fill, that have a requirement of the amount
of money that one will spend as a candidate. “The problem is that, as I said,
the Legislature needs to have a similar provision in the Senate Elections Act,
as well as in the Election of Regional Women Act,” Khumalo said.