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CHIEFS MUST FORGIVE FOR YOUTH TO VOTE - EBC

10/05/2023 08:39:00 Stanley Khumalo

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MANZINI – In a bid to be certain that the youth partakes in the national elections, chiefs in the Manzini Region have to bury the hatchet.

In recent years, the youth has been vocal about challenges they faced in royal kraals when seeking services. In some of the petitions, which were delivered to constituencies, the youth expressed that they avoided royal kraals as they felt they were not welcomed there. Some of the youth claimed that when seeking services at the royal kraals, they were made to pay despite that it was a known fact that unemployment in the kingdom was high.

In fact, according to the Labour Survey of 2021 conducted by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, youth unemployment stands at 58.2 per cent, while the overall unemployment rate in the kingdom is at 33.3 per cent, which was an acute increase from 23.4 per cent recorded in 2016. On the other hand, the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC), through its Communications Officer Mbonisi Bhembe, said chiefs as community leaders should assist in having the youth partake in the upcoming national elections. His assertions were delivered in one of the workshops set to nurture and foster a relationship between EBC and the traditional leaders, with the aim of delivering a conducive environment for elections to be conducted.
Bhembe said elections took place at chiefdoms where chiefs had authority and were focal persons of the community. He said they could facilitate people participation, communication with the people, raise awareness of electoral processes, improve understanding, build support and drive commitment.

Ensure

In a bid to ensure that this was a reality, Manzini Regional Administrator (RA) Chief Gija, said chiefs within his jurisdiction were already advised on burying the hatchet. He said the call followed that since the political unrest ensued in the kingdom; chiefs were being intimidated and were living in fear after one of them was brutally killed. It is worth noting that a number of people have been killed since the beginning of the political uprising. The people killed included political activists, State security personnel and KaZandondo Chief, Prince Mahloma Dlamini.

Meanwhile, Chief Gija said the chiefs had to bury the hatchet in order to have communities heal, to achieve the democracy the people were talking about. The Manzini RA said: “What has been happening is not democracy but an attack to democracy. So, we’ve been engaging chiefs to bury any grudges and to engage their communities so that they can heal.” He said this also included bringing to order chiefs deviating from the expectations entrusted on them. The Manzini RA said royal kraals were supposed to be service centres. Chief Gija said they were having engagements with chiefs in the region to remind them that they were community leaders and should not turn royal kraals into cash cows. He said there was a vigorous exercise, which started in 2022, to stop any charges for services rendered by royal kraals as this was alienating people with their leaders. In fact, he said they had informed some of the traditional authorities that a royal kraal was not a cash cow. However, he acknowledged that the financial muscle of the royal kraals was not the same and as such, where there was a need for funding, it should be done through a collective agreement.

Agreed

“There is a royal kraal where the community agreed that an annual fee should be paid per homestead to assist in getting stationary, stamps and also be used as busfare for officials who have to sign documents of community members at the District Commissioner’s Offices.” Meanwhile, chairperson of the EBC, Prince Muhlabuhlangene, recently called upon chiefs to use the law to protect themselves from threats. He said there was no person who was safe from the threats as they were all facing the same risks. The chairperson said they had to understand the obligation entrusted upon them by the authorities. He said they were expected to respect the King as guided by the Bible. He said: “There is a goal for the elections to be a success and hence we started by engaging you as leaders of communities.”