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BRIBERY CLAIMS ROCK SENATE ELECTIONS

14/10/2023 08:56:00 Sabelo Ndzinisa

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LOBAMBA – The integrity of the Senate elections was put into question on Thursday afternoon.

This was after reports that at least two of Senate hopefuls allegedly spent approximately E500 000 apiece on lobbying for votes.
But they ended up on the losing side. Even more astonishingly, it was alleged that one of the Senate winners had to part with around E1 million just to win a seat in the upper chamber. Before the start of the elections, allegations were circulating in and outside the chambers that a certain businessman, known to this publication, was so desperate for the MPs’ support that he was allegedly offering E100 000 for a single vote.

Corrupt

After the final results of the Senate elections were announced, relatives of some of the Senate losers were overheard cursing the process, branding it as corrupt. “The elections akanawo emaciniso (the elections lack integrity). Imagine spending over half a million Emalangeni to win a Senate seat but still end up on the losing side. This is promoting corrupt practices because there is no way in the Constitution or Parliament Standing Orders that you must bribe MPs for Senate votes,” one of the disappointed Senate nominees said.

Loyalties

“These MPs are not honest because they make you pay for a vote, knowing very well that their loyalties lie somewhere else. Mind you, these are the same legislators we trust to pass laws in Parliament yet they have a lot of skeletons in their closets.” He said the office of the attorney general (AG) should look into the bribery allegations against MPs. “Accepting a bribe is an act of corruption and must be punished by law,” one MP said in the midst of it all. “The sad part is that the payment of the money for votes has become a normal culture in every election year for Parliament seats and it would seem this is now an acceptable practice.

Punished

“Some of us want Parliament seats to serve the nation, not to enrich individuals. My appeal is for the AG to seriously look into how MPs who receive bribes for votes are punished, because people like us were forced to buy those votes without any guarantees for victory.” These concerns appeared to have been given weight by a statement from Mbabane East Member of Parliament (MP) Welcome Dlamini in the House of Assembly before the start of the Senate elections. His statement almost caused commotion as some legislators, especially Nkwene MP Sikhumbuzo Dlamini did not take kindly to it. “Nangabe udle imali yemuntfu wametsembisa lo-one ungasifaki tsine. (loosely translated to mean: if you have taken someone’s money with the promise of a vote, do not involve us),” MP Welcome said.

Promises

This statement appeared to suggest that some legislators may have taken money in exchange for promises to vote for certain individuals into Senate.
What sparked the Mbabane East MP’s statement was that before the start of the elections, Clerk to Parliament Benedict Xaba, who was the returning officer during this exercise, informed the MPs that they would not mark the ballot papers from their seats as stipulated by law, but would use the voting booths provided in the chambers to ensure that their votes remained confidential. Xaba pointed out that this was necessitated by the fact that the Senate candidates were stationed at the public gallery; just above the MPs’ seats, hence there were concerns that it would be easy to identify who the MPs voted for.

Stipulates

“It is not wrong to vote from our seats as opposed to going to the ballot booth. The law stipulates that we should vote from our seats. I do not see the need for us to go to those boxes,” MP Welcome said. However, with the assistance of Speaker Jabulani ‘Buy Cash’ Mabuza, Xaba explained that for an election to be objective and impartial, the secrecy of the ballot paper was crucial, pointing out that as a returning officer, he was authorised by the same legislation to decide the voting method. In his submission, MP Sikhumbuzo called upon the Mbabane East MP to withdraw his statement, arguing that it was presented in such a way that it would give a wrong impression to the public about MPs taking bribes.

“The statement will make people think that we elected people based on who paid more money,” he said, stating clearly that this would compromise the integrity of Parliament.

Bribes

He said if the Mbabane East MP knew something they did not know (like those who took people’s money), the Nkwene MP said his colleague from Mbabane East should not bring it into the House because emaSwati would think that Parliament was a den of crooks who took bribes. AG Sifiso Khumalo, who was also present, commended the Mbabane East MP for giving himself time to read Section 13 (4) of the Senate Elections Act, which states that after the member takes the ballot paper, he or she shall cast their vote in the manner they would like to. Another MP, who also asked not to have his identity revealed, said bribery was not new in Parliament, stating that it was not just confined to Senate elections.

“Parliament elections, by their nature, are very corrupt,” he emphasised.“It is not just about the Senate elections but we also had to part with lots of money to lobby for votes from primary up to secondary level.”

Discarded

He said integrity was being discarded when it came to elections. “This is an open secret,” he said. He was concerned that the buying of votes was seemingly normal in the country. “It is very easy for legislators to fork out money for elections because they can recover it quickly. After all, five years is a long time. It only becomes a problem when you pay the money for the votes but end up losing because this bribery money is never recoverable.”

Blame

Clerk to Parliament Xaba stated clearly that the losers who spent money for votes should not blame anybody. “If you use money to buy votes, then it cannot just be the person getting the money who is corrupt, but also the one giving.

Complain

“In this scenario, nobody should complain or blame anybody when they have lost in the elections and I did indicate this in Parliament before the elections,” Xaba said.