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IS NEXT PM AMONG THESE?

04/10/2018 04:19:00 BY SIBONGILE SUKATI

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MBABANE – Is the country’s next prime minister among the 10 King’s appointees, who were announced on Tuesday? Public speculation has been rife on whether any of the new appointees could take up the hot seat particularly those who carry the Dlamini surname.

All previous prime minister’s in the country’s history have carried the Dlamini surname.
Seven of the King’s appointees carry the same surname and these include Prince Hlangabeza, Prince Simelane, Prince Kusa, Prince Mfwanawemakhosi, Princess Lindiwe, Princess Phumelele and Pholile Shakantu (Dlamini).

In 2013, during the last appointment of the late former Prime Minister Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini, he was easily identifiable as he immediately formed part of the 10 appointees by the King and therefore a member of the House of Assembly. This was in line with Section 67 of the Constitution of Eswatini, which speaks on the appointment of the prime minister and other ministers.

Section 67 (1) reads, “the King shall appoint the prime minister from among members of the House acting on recommendation of the King’s Advisory Council”.
According to Section 93 of the Constitution, the composition of Parliament shall consist of a Senate and a House of Assembly.

Despite that the Constitution states that the PM should be a member of the House, the King’s appointments have in the past not been easily predictable as in some instances, the PM has not been known until his announcement by the King at the cattle byre.
For example, during the Ninth Parliament (2008 – 2013) the late PM (Barnabas) was not announced on the initial list of the 10 appointees into the House of Assembly.

Instead, the PM was only revealed during the Sibaya and what transpired thereafter was that in order for Dlamini to be a member of the House, former Speaker Themba Msibi was swapped into Senate where he was a backbencher.
Meanwhile, in 2003 during the 8th Parliament when former PM Absalom Themba (AT) Dlamini was appointed premier, he was also not included among the 10 appointees.

If anything, speculation was rife that Prince David could be the next PM. Prince David was eventually appointed Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs.
In that instance former Deputy Prime Minister Constance Simelane was then moved to Senate and replaced by AT.

It should be noted though that in 2003, the Constitution was not in place. It is possible that the next premier is not among the new 10 appointees as the appointing authority still has 20 more Senate seats to fill and of those there could be a premier, who would then be appointed and swapped with one of the appointees to Senate.