WE LOVE INGWENYAMA – MP MTHANDENI IN CROWN VIDEO

MBABANE – “What we are saying is we love Ingwenyama.”

This was said by Ngwempisi Member of Parliament (MP) Mthandeni Dube in one of the Facebook videos, which now form part of the evidence of the Crown.
The video was played at the High Court yesterday during the trial of Dube and Hosea Member of Parliament Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza, who are facing charges of terrorism, sedition and murder. The purpose of playing the video was to correct the translation of the transcribed audio, which, according to the parties, was not properly translated. It emerged that the translation was not at par with what is contained in the Facebook videos.

During the matter, Dube and Mabuza did not sit in the accused dock, but with their representatives in the front row. In the video that was played yesterday, Dube mentioned that they loved the Ingwenyama and wanted him to be protected from politics that would taint his image. He said, as His Majesty would know and had seen in Uganda how the Kibaki kings were taken care of, they (he, Mabuza and Mduduzi ‘Magawugawu’ Simelane) knew how to properly take care of kings, ‘so Ingwenyama would continue being the head of the country’.

Build

“We will take care of His Majesty and the welfare of the nation. We will build His Majesty a country he will be proud of for the next 50 years,” said Dube in the video. He said they had a strategy to attract foreign investment in order to create jobs and boost the tourism sector. “We know what to do. We are not confused, but are just three visionary MPs. We know that we have more visionary Members of Parliament, but they have to overcome fear because you cannot lead Swaziland (Eswatini) to First World status, which we are supposed to assist Ingwenyama to attain,” said Dube. The Ngwempisi MP also addressed the issue of the then Acting Prime Minister (PM), Themba Masuku, who had allegedly slandered them on radio. Dube said they wished to clarify that no matter how they were slandered, they would not change.

Questioning

He encouraged emaSwati to never stop questioning things. Dube said as MPs, they had heard the concerns of the people and they themselves had seen that it was proper to have an elected PM. Dube said they wanted an elected prime minister because an appointed one was not accountable to the people, especially on the usage of taxpayers’ monies. In the video, he talked about bathrooms of the International Convention Centre and Five Star Hotel (ICC & FISH), each of which he alleged to have cost E280 000. He said the PM should have condemned that kind of spending.

“To this day, no one has come out to justify the spending of so much money on the bathrooms. As far as we know, E280 000 is enough to build a whole house. We are advocating for a prime minister who will be accountable to the people,” said Dube. He also mentioned that projected costs of capital projects tended to shoot up in the long-run without justification from the head of government. “Government should be accountable for the public expenditure. That is what we are advocating for. We need a PM who will be accountable to the people of Eswatini.”

Dube also said they never got a report of how the King’s Office budget was spent. He said an elected prime minister would account for the King’s Office expenditure and come up with ways to reduce it if necessary. The MP pointed out that there was a need to increase elderly grants to at least E1 000 or E1 200 and disability grants to E600 or E700, which would stimulate the economy ‘because the current government strategy will not yield results in the next 15 to 25 years’. He said if the country was to attract businesspeople who would invest billions of Emalangeni in the country, they would see that the population was ready to support their businesses. The Ngwempisi MP said they had also observed that wealth was not evenly distributed and it circulated among a select few.

Governance

He mentioned that they had taken it upon themselves to enlighten the public on proper governance. Dube also said they advocated for a political system that would be private sector-driven and emaSwati in South Africa and other countries must return to work in Eswatini. The mining sector, according to Dube, should be restructured and emaSwati in other countries, who have rare skills in science and other disciplines, should come back to the country. “Swaziland (Eswatini) has a lot of opportunities. The only challenge is the political system, especially because as emaSwati, we don’t feel like government belongs to us.”
Dube alleged that the former PM tried to beg them to pass the Bill for the construction of the new Parliament building.

He alleged that a majority of MPs questioned why they should continue to plunge the country into debt that was unsustainable. He said they noted that the PM did not have the people’s interests at heart. “So we want, as emaSwati, to be given the right to elect our own PM, who will be accountable to us. The DPM is using the national radio to attack us. He will never diffuse the power of social media.” When leaving the court after the case had been postponed to today, Dube reiterated that they loved the King very much. The matter continues today at 9am.

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