WE WANT CHANGE - SOME NDINDA RESIDENTS

MBABANE – “It doesn’t matter who wins, we just want change.”

This was said by some residents under Ndinda Chiefdom ahead of the primary elections on Saturday. They made it clear that they wanted a new representative in the 12th Parliament.
Their Member of Parliament (MP) for the past 10 years was the current Minister of Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Moses Vilakati. The minister lost in the primary elections to University of Eswatini (UNESWA) employee and former President of the National Workers Union of Swaziland Higher Institutions (NAWUSHI) Samuel Shongwe by 684 to 498 votes.
The third candidate was Lucky Mkhatshwa, who got 146 votes. It was mostly the youth that was vocal about having a new representative in Parliament. They were always on the lookout for anyone who was not from their community, in order to prevent them from taking chances to vote at the KaNdinda Primary School Polling Station.

Queued

Anyone who was unknown to them had to identify themselves and if nobody knew them, they were turned back. This happened while they queued outside the gate of the polling station.
They dedicated themselves to the task until dusk, to make sure that only known residents voted at the polling station. “We have had people from other areas coming here to vote previously, resulting in people winning the elections when they did not deserve to. That will not happen this time around. We know our neighbours. Only a deserving candidate will win tonight,” one the youth said to his peers. The votes were counted from 9pm to midnight. First to be counted were indvuna yenkhundla votes. Eight men and one woman were contesting for this position. The winner was Vusi Dlamini, who got 568 votes and the second best was Makhosonkhe Zwane, with 211 votes.

After the indvuna yenkhundla votes had been counted, MP votes were counted until after 3am. The polling station was divided into two, with others voting at Makhungutja, which is also under Ndinda Royal Kraal. The votes from Makhungutja and Ndinda Primary School polling stations were added together and Shongwe won. At least 994 residents voted at Ndinda out of the more than 1 000 who registered. Eleven MP ballot papers were spoilt. About five were not marked at all by the voters, others had two crosses while some had all the candidates’ faces crossed. Seven indvuna yenkhundla ballot papers were spoilt.

During the counting of the votes, both Vilakati and his close contender, Shongwe, were not at the polling station. Shongwe said he was at work at UNESWA because he and his colleagues were working double-shifts since it is examination time for students. While the votes were being counted in the presence of some indvuna yenkhundla and MP candidates, some of whom were represented by their campaign agents (bogalajane), they would from time to time be heard giving updates on their cellphones about what was happening. As the votes were being counted, a group of people waited at the closed gate of the school for the results. They could be heard from the classroom where the votes were being counted, singing. They went wild with excitement when they became aware of the results and quickly left for their respective places of residence. “That’s what we wanted. At least we will have an MP now,” some of them were heard saying.

Shongwe said in his opinion, the electorate had probably given the outgoing MP enough time to represent them in Parliament. He said the community was concerned about deliverables, which some of them had complaint were not up to their expectations. He said he believed that he was voted for because members of the community had worked with him on a number of development projects. Shongwe also said it worked to his advantage that he was almost always in the community. “I stay here. I am always present when we undertake different development projects,” said Shongwe. He mentioned that he did not think that it would be difficult for him during the secondary elections on September 29, 2023. According to Shongwe, he knew people in the communities under the constituency and he took part in projects outside his own community, such as at Ntondozi Secondary School.

When asked if he did not think that Vilakati’s supporters might want to spite him and vote for his competitors during the secondary elections, Shongwe said he would go out to the communities and discuss with the people that since they were all from the same umphakatsi, they should work together to uplift their communities. He stated that he did not believe many people would want to spite him. “We will visit and address them because we want to work together for the good of the area. We have brought many development projects and we want to do so even in future,” Shongwe said.

Decide

Vilakati, on the other hand, said during an elections, the electorate had the power to decide for themselves what should happen. “All I can say is that on the issue of elections, the power is in the people. Yours is to listen to what they say by their vote and then go home. The problem comes when you have not prepared an exit plan,” said Vilakati. During the nominations on July 22, 2023, Vilakati, who was vying for a third term in Parliament, said he and Shongwe had worked together as members of the development committee of KaNdinda. He described Shongwe as a friend. The minister and Shongwe shook hands after their nomination and in jest ask his then competitor, Shongwe: “Ngubani lolosicatsanisako Shongwe? (Who is setting us against one another Shongwe?” The minister said even though he enjoyed the most support in the area, there was a still a long way to go. He said it would not hurt to lose to Shongwe and added that ‘asisebentili ku-loser’ (we are not aiming for a loss).

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