‘Mabhanisi’ booed by voters

Sibusiso ‘Mabhanisi’ Dlamini (l), was booed by residents when his name was called out at Kwaluseni. Next to him are some of the people who nominated him.

KWALUSENI – Sibusiso ‘Mabhanisi’ Dlamini, the former Member of Parliament (MP) was booed by residents during the nomination exercise at his chiefdom.

This happened immediately after his name was called, causing a brief interruption after one of his supporters called out his name.
The booing was so loud that the voices of those who were trying to nominate him could not be heard.

Dlamini was the fifth person to be nominated but he proved to be unpopular as a considerable number of residents booed and shouted unpalatable words.
As soon as his name was called out, there was a brief but deafening silence which was followed by loud booing.

Dlamini then stood up walked to the front while the booing continued.
He then announced that he would accept the nomination because he had been nominated but the crowd then booed at him again. Dlamini stood until the booing subsided and more of his supporters eventually joined him after which his name was added on to the list. Some of the residents shouted out unpalatable words and made defamatory allegations which will not be repeated for ethical reasons. Lelethu Khumalo, one of the residents said the former legislator appeared to have been embarrassed by the crowd booing him.

“It was so embarrassing that I had to look away,” said Khumalo before he burst into laughter. He said a lot of those who were booing complained that the legislature had been appearing in the media for the wrong reasons. Khumalo said residents were not happy that he once arrived for duty in a taxi after allegations that his vehicle had been repossessed.

Khumalo believes this may be the reason the people appeared to have turned against him and booed when his name was called.
“They had been waiting for this day,” he said. Kwaluseni is one of the biggest constituencies and 19 candidates were nominated including Purine Bhembe who served as Indvuna yenkundla under Dlamini. Despite the booing, Dlamini  was eventually nominated by some of his supporters as the fifth person on the list of 19.

Asked about the residents who harassed him, Dlamini blamed it on some of his opponents and accused them of orchestrating the crowd to make the noise. He said this never happened in the past adding it was the first time for residents to behave like that.

“It shows that some of the people are not mature but anyway, politics is a dirty game,” he said. He accused some of his opponents of trying to discredit him but said the behaviour by the residents made him popular.

Dlamini said some of the people at the polling station did not recognise him until he was booed.

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