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‘REMOVE UNKNOWN VOTERS TO AVOID VIOLENCE’

06/08/2023 15:33:00 Ntombi Mhlongo

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MBABANE – As the nation gears up for the primary elections to be held towards the end of the month, not all is well under Hosea Inkhundla.

This is because some nominated candidates are seemingly frustrated by one of their competitors who they have claimed has an unfair advantage over them. They have alleged that the competitor has already garnered support from voters who are not known in any of the chiefdoms under Hosea Inkhundla. So frustrated are the nominees that they have since written a letter to the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) to lodge a formal complaint. In the letter, which reflects a stamp purported to be that of the EBC secretariat dated August 2, 2023, the candidates stated that they were registering their discomfort with regards to unknown people they claimed appeared in the voters roll.

validate

“We fully believe that this is unconstitutional. We were not given a chance to validate the voters roll as the clerks did not allow us. Our grave concern is that more than 400 people were registered in our chiefdom who are not known and this is unconstitutional. One of the candidates has a list of voters who do not fall under our chiefdoms and do not qualify to vote as per the Constitution,” reads part of the letter. The letter goes on to mention the prayers the frustrated candidates have requested and among them is that the EBC should allow the ‘real’ residents of Hosea to validate the voters roll and remove any unknown registered ones. “Remove all unknown voters from our voters roll. Investigate the allegation that more than 400 people were registered illegally and disqualify them. Investigate the candidate who has a list of voters who do not belong to the chiefdoms under Hosea,” the letter further reads. One of the candidates who claimed knowledge of the letter said they felt that allowing the candidate to have an unfair advantage over them would lead to violence and prevent some registered residents from practicing their right to vote. He alleged that already, the candidates who felt aggrieved have met and agreed that something needed to be done regarding the issue.

agreed

He said having agreed in unison that a letter of complaint should be written to the EBC, the next step would be to visit the entity’s offices at Nkhanini to ascertain if any action would be taken. A question was posed on whether the aggrieved candidates did have tangible evidence to support their claim that some of the voters were not residents of Hosea and the response was that the allegations were based on statements made by the accused candidate together with his crew. The accused candidate is alleged to have boasted that he already had about 2 000 people in each of the chiefdoms who were guaranteed to vote for him. “What he does is that he goes around buying booze for residents in the different communities. Most of them are not from Hosea but are desperate residents who work in the textile firms in Nhlangano and this is unfair to us. We have submitted the letter to the EBC and have been promised a report. We know that we might not receive the report so we have planned that on Tuesday we will, as Hosea nominated candidates, visit the EBC,” he alleged. He explained that they will be visiting the EBC offices not to fight but simply to appeal for action to be taken.

complaint

When called for comment, EBC Communications Officer Mbonisi Bhembe could neither confirm nor deny that the letter of complaint had been received. Instead, he advised that all aggrieved candidates should follow the procedures of objecting the inclusion of a person they felt did not belong to their chiefdom. Bhembe said the candidates were made aware that there were forms available for them to fill up whenever they felt that some candidates were not eligible to nominate or vote in certain chiefdoms. It should be noted that the Voters Registration Act No.4 of 2013 provides that a person applying for registration as a voter is expected to produce proof of Eswatini citizenship and residence. It also provides that whenever there is an objection, a person shall lodge it by furnishing the EBC officials with admissible evidence which include written and electronic proof.

Meanwhile, when the accused candidate was sought for comment, the call was terminated the moment he was informed about the complaint and allegations against him. Attempts were made three times to get hold of him but they were unsuccessful as his cellphone rang unanswered. It should be noted that the Hosea Inkhundla has been in the spotlight ever since the political unrest, which culminated in looting, vandalism and torching of property reared its ugly head in 2021.

aggrieved

This has been fuelled by a faction of the community members who are still aggrieved by the arrest of the constituency’s former MP Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza. Mabuza, together with former Ngwempisi MP Mthandeni Dube were arrested for terrorism-related charges in 2021. In June this year, the duo was guilty of three of the four charges that relate to the contravention of the Suppression of Terrorism Act and two counts of murder. The former MPs were charged with contravening the Suppression of Terrorism Act that in June 2021, in the four regions, they committed a terrorist act by inciting people to revolt against the constitutionally established government. The charge further stated that consequences of the incitement were riots in all the four regions, which caused loss of life, bodily injuries and destruction of private properties.

They also faced murder charges following the deaths of Siphosethu Mtshali and Thando Shongwe on June 29, during the civil unrest at Hilltop along Malagwane public road. They were also charged with contravening COVID-19 Regulations of 2020 under the Disaster Management Act of 2006, committed on June 5, 2021, at or near Hosea, for which Mabuza was acquitted. The MPs were charged with the former Siphofaneni MP, Mduduzi Simelane, who evaded arrest and is on the police’s wanted list. While Mabuza and his colleague remain in jail, a lot has happened at the Hosea Inkhundla.

accused

In November 2021, the outgoing Indvuna Yenkhundla, Richard Vilane, was accused by residents of being a sell-out. This happened when members of the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) stopped a prayer service that was supposed to be held at Hosea Sports Ground. On the day in question, Vilane allegedly had disagreements with some residents who accused him of applying double standards in that at first he presented himself as one who was in support of the struggle for liberation but had later changed tune. The tensions at the same constituency were seen when its umphakatsi, situated about two kilometres from the inkhundla building, was burnt ahead of a civic voter education exercise which was to be conducted by the EBC.
When the umphakatsi was burnt, food that was meant to feed the residents during the civic voter education event was also burnt. Ahead of the civic voter education exercise, members of the REPS had to keep an eye by patrolling all the royal kraals under Hosea.