SWALIMO TARGETS 40 PARLY SEATS IN 2023 ELECTIONS

MBABANE – SWALIMO intends to participate in the upcoming 2023 national elections.

This was confirmed by the President of SWALIMO, Mduduzi ‘Gawuzela’ Simelane, during the live interview where he was hosted by the Swaziland Democratic News Facebook page on Sunday evening under the topic; ‘It Becomes Darker Before Dawn.’ SWALIMO is an acronym for Swaziland Liberation Movement. Simelane was responding to questions posed by the audience, who questioned him about SWALIMO’s position, should there be no changes in the political space until 2023.

Challenging

The audience said challenging the system from within had failed. In response, he stated that SWALIMO intended to occupy every square metre of Eswatini, and cover every space so that their voice was heard from all corners. This, he stated, would be a centre of focus and bring a huge debate and criticism from the masses. However, he stated that even before 2023, they wanted to announce to all emaSwati who were SWALIMO members and lived within the CBD, to come close. The president said there was a plan for the local council elections for municipalities to be won by the democracy-loving people who should occupy all the towns.

“We should invade in order for things to be simple for us when we require a permit to march in the town,” he said. Simelane said they wanted to ensure that the mayors and councillors were members of their movement. He mentioned that they did not want those people who supported the Tinkhundla System. He said during the national elections (2023), in each constituency, especially where current MPs were supporting tinkhundla, they should make sure that they were replaced by being out-voted by SWALIMO members. “You can’t fix it when it is not broken,” he expressed.  

Democracy

Simelane said the common goal was democracy, which was why they needed to be proactive with their recruitment in the constituencies. The former MP said it was key for all those who were calling for democracy to plan while there was still enough time. He made it clear that it was not their wish for the 2023 elections to be conducted under the Tinkhundla System of Government. The former MP said because the current system was delaying the road to democracy by buying time, by chance if that happened they should be way ahead in thinking. “SWALIMO wants to invade every space and needs around 40 MPs like the three of us Bacede, Mthandeni and Magawugawu.” He said they would be vetting their potential candidates who will be representing them. “We must fight this liberation in every space, which is why I urge every liSwati to welcome SWALIMO into their homes, chiefdoms and communities,” he said.

Contest

One of the followers asked if SWALIMO would participate in the national elections as a party and contest. He said in the past they learnt that those administrating the elections had power over contestants they did not approve of. The follower said once the contestants had been nominated, it was possible that they could not make it, as currently elections were not independent like in other countries. He advised that SWALIMO should find other means so that those people administrating the national elections were not able to do as they pleased.
Simelane said the follower was right about the censoring during the elections and they anticipated that those administering would do all in their power to ensure that they investigated those close to the mass democratic movement in order to shut them out. He stated that what gave him assurance was that when emaSwati could be a unity they could overcome.
Simelane said they were attending to the issue and weighing all options. “We have no choice but to make the plan public as we are mobilising and need to inform the people early,” he explained.

The former MP said politics dealt with numbers, and all they needed to do was outnumber the opposition. He said, he was also well aware that the opposition was also working. The president further highlighted that when the late Jan Sithole participated in the elections, he received a lot of criticism and was called a sellout. He said he was also called a sellout when he reported that he wanted to participate in the national elections and there was talk that he wanted money.  He mentioned that when inside Parliament and started working, the talk changed to ‘our MP.’  Simelane said he posted most of his debates on social media platforms and heard the people say there was only one MP, referring to him.

Media

“When we were three recording and posting on social media, the people referred to us as their MPs,” he said. This, he said, was due to the fact that the people were realising the fruits. Following Simelane’s response, the host asked what could be achieved by the strategy as they would still be reporting to the head of state. He said the topic would become subject for debate on another session to be hosted. Meanwhile, another follower questioned the president on the recent trip by the Multi-Stakeholder Forum (MSF) to Lesotho, which SWALIMO was not part of. The follower wanted to know the movement’s position as the purpose of MSF was to get ideas from the Basotho on how the monarchy could continue ruling side by side the political parties. Simelane said he was following it and heard how the MSF chairperson presented to the Lesotho prime minister. He mentioned that in the struggle, it was important to forge relations with other countries and get ideas.

Ideas

However, he said Lesotho was not ideal for them as SWALIMO in getting ideas. Simelane said he did not want to believe that Lesotho was a priority to MSF as well but they opened doors for them. As SWALIMO, he said through his experience from Parliament, he did not approve of the idea. The president said it was emaSwati first who through a referendum, were expected to state the type of government they wanted and whether they still needed a monarchy. Simelane said they were part of MSF but somehow felt they jumped the gun as emaSwati had not stated on their behalf. He mentioned that SWALIMO did not want to dictate but it would be emaSwati who would choose for themselves after being educated. Simelane said the right to freedom did not go through referendum but was God given and demanded. He said the referendum was for verification purposes which would come out during the dialogue process.

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