Mbabane: As the clock was ticking towards registration deadline, President of SWALIMO Mduduzi Simelane was all out issuing warnings to the electorate to ensure they don’t emerge as losers in this year’s electoral contest.
The former Siphofaneni Member of Parliament who is popularly known by his stage name, Gaw’zela, encouraged people to get ready for this year’s National Parliamentary Elections by getting registered and further proceed to make their mark in the ballot box. He said this could go a long way towards advancing his political party strategy to introduce changes in the way the country is being governed, from inside parliament. He identified parliament as a suitable strategic vehicle to advance their cause, imploring supporters to make sure that they do everything within their reach to swell the numbers from within their ranks who will contest the poll countrywide.
The utterances by the former MP emerged through a video clip shared on social media platform facebook, where he unveiled SWALIMO’s strategy to obtain majority seats in the forthcoming parliament. The video clip was flighted ahead of the scheduled deadline for the elections which are being managed by the Elections and Boundaries Committee (EBC) headed by Prince Mhlabuhlangene.
In the video clip Simelane could be heard persuading his party’s supporters to maximise their organasational capabilities by forming strategic cells, where members are expected to identify competent candidates to represent each chosen Constituency in the legislative chambers and further promote them through word of mouth as well as popular social media platforms. According to the MP who has overnight transformed himself into a pro-democratic change agent, the plan would assist to avoid a repeat of an undesirable situation that took place during the last poll in 2018 where figures released by the electoral body revealed that less than half the number of people who had registered to vote actually casted their ballots in the primary election. He highlighted that only 157 000 of the 544 000 people who had registered to vote in the poll actually exercised their voting right. In that way, he said people experienced massive loses because they could not advance the required numbers to represent them in parliament.
The self-exiled former MP discouraged boycotting the elections, saying such would amount to a self-defeating approach. He called on all supporters to register to vote before the scheduled deadline of June, 14, 2023, which happened to be on Wednesday.
“This is an opportunity that you must utilise. I would like everyone to be decisive about registration and preparation for the election. Each and everyone of you must come out and participate in discussions to identify competent candidates and further market (promote) them in whatever way possible, including the social media,” he said.
Simelane has been reported to be staying in the United Kingdom, in self-imposed exile, after he apparently fled the country two years ago in the face of charges under the country’s terrorism law. He had been charged alongside two other law makers in Hosea parliamentary representative Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and his Ngwempisi counterpart Mthandeni Dube who went on to undergo trial at the High Court. While Simelane was, on the one hand, able to avoid trial, his incarcerated colleagues, on the other hand, were not so lucky because they were eventually convicted of the charges they were facing, which included murder. The trial was before High Court Judge Mumcy Dlamini.
The charges emanated from the anti-government protests that rocked the country around June and July 2021, where the pro-change MPs were accused of inciting members of the public to revolt against government.
Citizens of Eswatini will go to the polls around August and September 2023, where they are expected to get the opportunity to elect candidates to represent them in parliament and pass laws. This is expected to take place as the five-year term for the current parliament which comprised the terrorism charged MPs comes to an end.
…declares no situation is permanent, change is inevitable
Former Member of Parliament Mduduzi ‘Gaw’zela’ Simelane has channelled his political party supporters’ fury to the conviction of his co-accused legislators.
This is in reference to the duo of Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube who were recently convicted of terrorism and murder charges by High Court Judge Mumcy Dlamini.
Simelane, who is currently said to be residing in the United Kingdom, took to social media as the Elections and Boundaries Committee was gearing for the last moments of the elections registration process and strongly criticised the country’s courts over the conviction of his former colleagues in parliament.
He said the court verdict told a lot about the calibre of the local courts, accusing them of not being independent. He said he knew from an early moment that the courts would never release his former colleagues.
Speaking in a video clip that was circulated on popular social media platform facebook, Simelane furiously warned that no situation remained permanent. He bemoaned the conviction of his colleagues in parliament and gave the consolation that one day his people would be able to taste victory as change was inevitable.
He said the day would come when it shall be proven that “people’s power is greater than people in power.”
“What they are failing to understand is that no night has ever been too long such that the sun never rises,” he declared.
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