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RESIDENTS DELIVER 8 DEMANDS TO LAZWIDE

22/03/2023 16:02:00 Thokozani Mamba

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SITEKI – Siphofaneni Member of Parliament (MP) Nomalungelo LaZwide Simelane walked out of a meeting with senior police officers from the Siphofaneni Police Station to calm residents.

The residents had come to deliver their grievances to the Siphofaneni Inkhundla and were singing political songs. Yesterday, the MP met with Siphofaneni Police Station Commander Oscar Motsa in the company of senior police officers, Indvuna Yenkhundla Mzimela Simelane and bucopho from the seven chiefdoms under the Siphofaneni Inkhundla. The meeting was convened by the 38 residents who flocked to the inkhundla centre to deliver their petition on a number of grievances that were not addressed by government. The residents are also calling for the release of incarcerated MPs, Mthandeni Dube of Ngwempisi and Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza of Hosea. They are also calling for government to hold the national dialogue before the national elections. Also, they are demanding that the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM), Themba Masuku, should stop criticising decisions being made by their Member of Parliament (MP) LaZwide.

Worth mentioning is that last month, the MP told the DPM to stop making comments about her. She was of the view that Masuku was undermining her because she was a woman.
MP LaZwide was responding to Masuku’s sharp criticism of her absence from the official opening of the last session of the 11th Parliament, where His Majesty King Mswati III delivered the Speech from the Throne. Masuku had said, during an interview with the Times of Eswatini, that Simelane was arrogant in her reasons for deliberately missing the event.

Accused

He accused LaZwide of having failed to live up to the oath she had taken - to pay allegiance to His Majesty King Mswati III, his heirs and successors. The DPM also wanted to know from the MP whether she was serious about representing the people who elected her or she was doing things according to what her husband told her. MP LaZwide, who is wife to Swaziland Liberation Movement (SWALIMO) President Mduduzi ‘Gawuzela’ Simelane, retorted by saying the DPM’s comments were defamatory to her. “Akangicolele nje lomuntfu lomdzala. Akaphume kimi,” said the MP, interpreted as: “This man must leave me alone.”

The petition also demands that the DPM should withdraw the statement he made to the effect that LaZwide’s submission in Parliament were resolutions that her husband, former Siphofaneni MP ‘Gawuzela’ sent her to make in the august House. They also demanded the Ministry of Public Works and Transport to erect speed humps near Sibetsaphi and St. Philips High schools, due to increasing road accidents caused by speeding motorists. The residents further demanded that government should compensate families whose land was taken during the purported construction of the oil reserve station at Phuzumoya and that the community members should be given first preference during the hiring process. Furthermore, the petition also demanded an elected government by the people, hence it was calling for a democratically elected government.

Mduduzi Maphanga, who led the residents from the different chiefdoms under the constituency, said they had come to hand over their grievances to their MP as their representative in Parliament. He said they were able to hold a meeting with their MP, who was in company of the inkhundla council led by Indvuna Yenkhundla Simelane and senior police officers. Maphanga said they were told that petitions were banned, hence they were supposed to arrange meetings with their respective chiefdoms to engage them on their grievances. Adding, he said they were told that they did not follow the right protocol, which meant they were supposed to engage bucopho from their respective chiefdoms. “We came to deliver our grievances as we were turned back last week after being told that petitions were banned and that we had to submit our grievances in an appropriate manner,” he said. Indvuna Yenkhundla Simelane said they were told to structure their petition in a manner that would be in the form of a letter of grievances. The indvuna said the MP and inkhundla council welcomed them and held a meeting with their representatives to hear them out.

Complaining

He said they were told that the residents were complaining about the delay in the erection of speed humps at Ngevini area to control speeding vehicles. “They also wanted the relocated residents to be compensated for their land and that they wanted the stopping of the payment of E5 000 by sugar cane farmers under KaNgcamphalala Chiefdom stopped,” he said.
Simelane said the residents were advised to engage their respective bucopho to arrange meetings with their chiefdoms so that their grievances could be addressed. “Some of their grievances have been overtaken by events as the Ministry of Public Works and Transport was engaged on their grievances; we are waiting for feedback from him,” the indvuna said.
Addressing the angry residents, MP LaZwide informed them that their grievances would be attended to. The MP told the residents that they had met as inkhundla council and the police to discuss their grievances and it was felt that their issues had to be addressed at chiefdom level.

LaZwide said as their MP, they should trust her in the same manner they entrusted her with their votes. She urged the residents to go back to their respective homesteads in peace as they had started singing and dancing. “Just hear me out and go to your respective homes in peace. We have discussed your grievances and it was felt that due to the fact that petitions were banned, your grievances should be heard at your respective chiefdoms,” she said. Meanwhile, the residents also called for the abolishment of the E5 000 paid by each association annually as a gift (setfulo) to the KaNgcamphalala Chiefdom.

Development

Over 30 associations are currently in sugar cane farming under the chiefdom, through the development that was introduced by the Eswatini Water and Agricultural Development Enterprise (ESWADE) to chiefdoms under the Siphofaneni Inkhundla. Clarifying this matter, Chief Mshikashika Ngcamphalala said associations were not forced to pay this amount. The chief said this was an old matter and the E5 000 gift (kwetfula) by each association was not mandatory. He explained that associations did convey a message to the chiefdom if they had performed badly financially in that particular year and were exempted from paying the amount. “This is an old matter and I am surprised that some people are raising it now. The E5 000 gift (kwetfula) is not mandatory. If an association is facing financial difficulties, it is exempted from paying it. They are not forced to pay this amount,” he said. Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo said government would not replace the national elections with the national dialogue. “To conduct periodic national elections in this country is a constitutional obligation and imposition,” he said. Meanwhile, in June 2021, the DPM, Masuku, who was Acting Prime Minister by then, announced that government had suspended the delivery of petitions to tinkhundla centres, with immediate effect.