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MPS WON’T AFFORD XMAS PARTIES THIS YEAR

10/12/2020 01:39:00 BY STANLEY KHUMALO

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MANZINI – It will be a bleak festive season for the electorate.

Under normal circumstances, members of the public are entertained and offered food and drinks by their Members of Parliament (MPs) as a token of appreciation for the cooperation the pair exhibits throughout the course of the year.

However, this year, the MPs and the electorate will not have this opportunity.

This is solely because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that resulted in government issuing regulations regarding public behaviour.

The virus started to spread rapidly in the kingdom in March 2020, resulting in some members of the public being placed on unpaid layoffs at their various places of employment.

Statistics

In fact, the last statistics released by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, through the office of the Labour Commissioner, Mthunzi Shabangu, revealed that there were over 19 000 people who were laid off.

However, as the economic activity was gradually reopened, some of the employees resumed work while others lost their source of income.

Due to this, the burden on the legislators was said to have increased drastically as the public looked up to them for assistance with the provision of daily meals.

An annual vulnerability study published by the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office, reported that over 330 000 people (29 per cent of the population) were classified as in crisis or worse.

The report stated that this had eroded the ability of households to cope with new and intensifying shocks.

According to the Principal Disaster Officer in the DPM’s Office, Phindile Dlamini, the rural population which constitutes 293 000 people made the majority (27 per cent) of the national population in crisis or in emergency situation. She said those in crisis and under the emergency situation compared to the urban population were 37 000 people, which accounted for only two per cent of the population in this situation.

Emergency

Dlamini said the rural population in crisis was estimated at 263 500 people compared to 37 400 urban populations (Manzini and Hhohho regions). The principal disaster officer said about 29 300 of the rural population were facing an emergency situation.

“In the projected time period (October 2020 – March 2021), the population classified as in crisis or worse will increase to around 32 per cent (366 261) of the total population.”

This was said to be due to low food stocks gained from the 2019/20 harvest and the economic impacts of COVID-19, which resulted in significant loss in income for rural and urban households.

Dlamini said Lubombo and Shiselweni regions would continue to be the worst affected regions in the country. She said the population proportion in crisis in rural areas made up 42 per cent of the affected population compared to 27 per cent in urban areas.

“On the contrary, the stressed population proportion make up 53 per cent of the affected population in rural areas compared to 65 per cent in urban areas in the same category, which reflects a somewhat mild situation in the urban context,” she said.

On top of this challenging situation, a number of legislators have said their resources were depleted as they had been providing food parcels through the aid of donors and using their monthly remuneration.

Nkilongo Constituency MP Timothy Myeni said: “There is nothing prepared for now. Such gestures usually depend on the financial muscle of a legislator and at this instance, I’m not certain if I’ll afford anything.”

Myeni said his wishes were to lighten the mood of his constituents, but he might not afford to do so.

The MP highlighted that despite the imminent damper this festive season, throughout the course of the year, there were a variety of kind gestures that had been extended to the electorate.

The same was said by Lomahasha Constituency MP Ndumiso Masimula. He said: “There is nothing much that has been planned in the constituency as we’ve depleted our resources throughout the course of the year buying food parcels for the constituents.”

Masimula said the budget of his monthly expenditure was in excess of E5 000 and it was insufficient as there were higher demands than he could provide.

Shortage

Zombodze Emuva Constituency MP Muzi Kunene said they were all singing the same tune – acute shortage of food and resources.

He said unlike in yesteryears where his constituency had planned Christmas parties, this year was different.

“There are many people without food as they lost jobs and given the timing of the year, this will last until January or beyond; so what will happen in my constituency is that we will offer a few hampers of food to those in dire need,” Zwane said.

He said those who would benefit from the kind gesture would be identified through the assistance of community health motivators.

Also sharing the same line of thought was Somntongo Constituency MP Dumisani Mbhamali.

Mbhamali said: “There’ll be nothing and only a few may get food parcels.” He said unlike the ‘norm’ the constituency had set for itself around this time , circumstances were different in this particular year. The legislator said the festive season tournaments were suspended due to the COVID-19 regulations. Mbhamali said even if it were not that, his resources were depleted due to the challenges that were posed by the pandemic.

On the other hand, those who will host gatherings and have people exceeding the numbers stipulated in the revised Disaster Management (Coronavirus-COVID-19) Regulation, 2020 should be prepared to dig deep into their pockets and if caught breaching the regulations, they will part with E25 000 fine.

The National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) announced this fine for breaching the regulations, which came into effect on November 19, 2020. It was said for gatherings, apart from the E25 000 fine if in breach, offenders faced a jail term of up to two years, as well.

According to the regulations under Part III; Gatherings (8), A person who contravenes a provision of this part shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding E25 000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.