MIC GRABBING SAGA: SIBUSISO HAD SPOKEN FOR 2:07 MINS

MBABANE – Was the microphone grabbed from Sibusiso Dlamini because he had exceeded the time limit, or his submissions struck a raw nerve?

Though he is Secretary General of the African United Democratic Party (AUDP), Dlamini was speaking in his personal capacity as liSwati, with a thick bloodline from the house of King Sobhuza I. A deeper analysis of his submission at Sibaya on Tuesday can reveal that he started drawing attention when he spoke about the need for emaSwati to bless the prime minister first, before he can be appointed by the King. The crowd reacted with murmurs and noise, without being clear if this was an approval or disapproval of the submission. There was a marked suspense when he quoted the Constitution, to qualify his point, but when he touched on the separation of powers, more especially between Parliament and the Executive, the moderator, Zodwa Dlamini, interjected to tell him that his time was up. At this time, he had only spoken for 1:50 minutes.

It should be noted that at the time he made his submission, the time allocated to each speaker had not been stated. The three minutes time allocation was mentioned after one speaker, Mabaleka Dlamini of Ezulwini, stretched his presentation to over six minutes. Back to Dlamini, after being told to wrap up, he then hurriedly got to his second point, that of registration of political parties. Sibusiso said political parties must be registered so that they contest for power, instead of restricting the qualification for a Parliament seat to individual representation at elections. As he said this, the moderator was shutting him up by repeatedly saying sesiyabonga (thank you).

astonishment

He had spoken for 2:07 minutes and was about to qualify his second point, when the microphone was forcefully grabbed from him. He raised his hands in astonishment and went to sit down. In a hastily prepared press statement on Tuesday afternoon, Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo said Dlamini was stopped because he had exceeded his time limit. “Government wishes to assure the nation that the only reason the microphone was grabbed from Mr Dlamini was because the time allocated to him had elapsed and had nothing to do with the contents of his submissions,” Nxumalo said. However, the Times listened to the recordings captured by Eswatini TV and found that Sibusiso had only spoken for 1:50 minutes, when the moderator told him to sit down. The microphone was grabbed at 2:07 minutes.

Worth noting, there were about six other speakers who had spoken for more minutes but the microphone was not grabbed from them. There were only warnings from the moderators after they had spoken for over 2:30 minutes and the microphone was neither switched off nor grabbed from them. These included former Lobamba MP Majahodvwa Khumalo, who spoke for 2:35 minutes, while posing a question to Mathendele Dlamini. Joyce Gama also spoke for 3:32 minutes, also asking a question from Mbabane West MP Jane Simelane. There were many others who spoke in excess of two minutes and they included Makhosazane Dlamini, Bhekisizwe Dlamini, Wandile Gamedze and others. All of these were speaking in the category of posing questions and were not making presentations like the panellists.

The video in which Sibusiso had the microphone grabbed from him was widely circulated on social media since Tuesday afternoon and had attracted condemnation from members of the public. Some heaped praises on Sibusiso for his articulate quotation of the Constitution. Others predicted that he would be victimised. “Wangenake enkingeni umntfwanebantfu utova kutsi two months from now sovele phambi kwelijaji ngelicala lelingevakali,” said one bemoaning that Sibusiso could land himself in trouble because in two months time, he could be arrested for a fictitious crime. Another said: “vele kusho kutsi bafuna kubhungwe mbamba lapha, emaciniso abawafuni,” which loosely translates to; ‘they want Sibaya to be a platform for chit-chat only, they don’t want the truth’. Many on Facebook said the incident was the reason they would never ever set foot at Sibaya, because whatever they wanted to say would not be listened to.

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