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POLL RATERS GO FOR YOUNG LEADERS OVER VETERANS

05/11/2023 15:40:00 Ntombi Mhlongo

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MBABANE – The first of its kind poll rating of 22 panellists who were selected to make presentations during the Sibaya People’s Parliament brought about interesting elements.

One of the elements is that the raters, believed to be the ‘Smartphone generation’ comprising of mostly young people who might not have even attended the Sibaya, seemingly believed in young leaders. This is because bot top spots under female and male category were won by relatively young panellists. Also, the raters vouched for women as reflected in the number of votes. By the time the app was close just after lunch on Friday, leading the pack under the male category was Nkwene Member of Parliament Sikhumbuzo Dlamini. The Nkwene MP is only 43 years old and led with about 16 851 points. He was followed closely by Lubulini MP Dr Tambo Gina with about 15 324 points. On the third spot was former Prime Minister Cleopas Sipho Dlamini, who had amassed about 9 816 by the time the voting stopped. The overall analysis under the male category reflects that the voters paid less attention to the much older panellists.

reflected

This is reflected in that at the bottom of the male category stood former Cabinet minister Mathendele Dlamini, who could only manage 1 476 points. Also receiving less points was Liqoqo Chairman and former Deputy Prime Minister Paul Dlamini who amassed only 1 543 points. Former Prime Minister Themba Absalom Dlamini scored 1 837 points while Mabili Dlamini obtained 2 405. Interestingly, most of the older panellists were part of the list of those who members of the public had anticipated stood a chance of being appointed PM. Under the female category, Senate-elect Fezeka Dlamini who is aged 35 years, led the pack with about 19 460 points. She beat older panellists who included former Senate President Lindiwe Dlamini, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Thulisile Dladla and Lomahasha MP Zanele Mashaba. Taking the second spot under the female category was former Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Pholile Shakantu, who amassed 15 492 points.

On the other hand, Dladla scored about 12 773, while the former Senate president recorded 8 306. Another female who was also rated for was Nomathemba Hlophe who could only manage 1 893. An expert in politics who spoke to this publication regarding the overall results of the polls first mentioned that it was good to introduce such an exercise. “In most developed countries they have such polls. There is quite a number of take-aways from the overall standings of the panellists. One of them is that the youth has shown that they believe it is their time now. Their voice is loud despite that most of them might not attend the Sibaya to have their voices heard,” the expert said.

decisions

He said the fact that the youngest male and female panellists took the lead while the oldest were at the bottom was a sign that the youth can take its place in leadership decisions. “Basically, this means that the time for veterans to pass the baton to the younger generation. Also, the results reflect that there is strong support for women,” he said. Meanwhile, in most countries, an exercise like this is conducted in the form of what is referred to as opinion polls. By definition, an opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election), is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. It is said that opinion polls for many years were maintained through telecommunications or in person-to-person contact. Methods and techniques vary, though they are widely accepted in most areas. Over the years, technological innovations have also influenced survey methods such as the availability of electronic clipboards and internet-based polling.

It is said that verbal, ballot, and processed types can be conducted efficiently, contrasted with other types of surveys, systematics and complicated matrices beyond previous orthodox procedures. Also mentioned is that opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population and then extrapolating generalities in ratio or within confidence intervals.
Experts explain that public opinion signals public preferences and potential behaviours to policy makers. It is said that the exercise usually has greater impact under more stable democratic institutions. Also pointed out by experts is that there are different factors that influence an individual’s political attitude and these include education, gender, occupation and family background. It has been argued that opinion polls help politicians understand what the public wants, and the public understands who is popular at the ballot box.

opinion

In the lead up to an election, political pundits and interested members of the public will refer to opinion polls to see how results might land. According to Bloomberg, while polls have been viewed as a reliable guide, recent failures – including predictions for the 2015 United Kingdom (UK) General Election - have been viewed as being potentially damaging. Bloomberg reported that in the aftermath of the 2015 surprise, an inquiry was conducted with an aim to understand what had gone so wrong. One of the findings was that polls act as a feedback mechanism which could affect policy choices, whereas nearer to an election, they are feedback mechanism on how the campaign is going.’’

In the case of Eswatini, when the Sibaya app was introduced, many concluded that it was meant to give an idea on who the next PM was going to be. This was due to the fact that the rating app for the panellists suggested that these were persons earmarked for the vacant Cabinet positions. The app, which was launched by the Royal Science and Technology Park (RSTP), started working last week Saturday after having been announced by the Sibaya moderator and Attorney General Sifiso Mafelenkhosini Khumalo. The app allowed users to rate the submissions made by the panellists when responding to questions posed to them by Khumalo, with number one being the least rating each speaker could be rated on and six being the maximum.

The title of the app had the words ‘PM/Cabinet position rating’, giving the impression that the panellists could be appointed by His Majesty King Mswati III as the new PM of the country and some of the other panellists would be Cabinet ministers. The panellists were given different topics and asked how they would have handled them if they were the head of government or Cabinet. The topics included the political unrest experienced in 2021, patriotism in the context of Monarchical Democracy, how to produce industry-ready graduates and how to reduce Eswatini’s over-reliance on the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), among other topics and questions they were submitting on.