MANZINI – The secondary elections in the Manzini-Mbabane corridor were marred by chaos, frustrations and fears of rigging.
Heightened suspicions of the involvement of textile workers, allegations flew back and forth, that one irate voter who supported a certain candidate contesting the Member of Parliament (MP) position drew a gun to scare alleged riggers. At the height of the fracas, some alleged textile workers and the aspiring MP ran for cover. As a result, police were called to three of the polling stations as the aggrieved voters attacked voters they believed were ineligible to vote under Manzini North.
They vowed to deal with candidates who bought votes from the textile industry, mainly in Matsapha, where over 20 000 people are employed.
In one of the incidences, it is alleged that one of the followers of an equally aggrieved MP candidate drew a gun to show potential cheaters that ‘enough is enough.’
According to an eyewitness, the aggrieved voters camped at the polling station before voting started at 7am. Seeing a very long queue with unfamiliar faces, word went out that the textile workers had arrived and were forming part of the registered voters under this embattled constituency.
The eyewitnesses said the angry voters regrouped, in one accord, went to the polling station to confront those they suspected of having come solely to rig the elections, in favour of those who bribed them for illegal votes. During the confrontation, they said one of them allegedly drew a gun, while demanding that the voters, whom they believed were textile workers should not dare go to vote.
Voting
In fact, they ordered them to stop voting and return to Matsapha to continue with knitting. Police responded to the scene to stop the confrontation from getting out of hand and a backup was provided to ensure there was no mayhem. It is understood that police officers mediated between the two factions. During the mediation, eyewitnesses mentioned that the aggrieved voters claimed there were Toyota Quantum which they spotted transporting the purported textile workers to the polling station. This resulted in the police summoning some individuals from both factions to the Manzini Police Regional Headquarters, where the matter was discussed.
While this was unfolding at Manzini North, reports emerged that Manzini South was having its share of problems and frustrations. It is said that underhand tactics allegedly reared their ugly head. This is due to the fact that groups of people were found waiting in town, claiming that they had been promised money to vote for certain candidates under Manzini South. The rowdiness of the crowd attracted members of the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) under the Criminal Investigative Department (CID). The plain clothes officers were found engaging some of the people and relaying their frustration.
One of the groups of people claimed that they were promised E100 apiece for casting their vote for the candidate who supposedly kept them waiting for over five hours.The hungry and angry group was found along Du Toit Street, next to The George Hotel. Among them, one claimed to have been from as far as Nhlangano and had waited for the aspirant legislator since 10am. She mentioned that they were 50 of them from various textile factories in Nhlangano and Matsapha. The aggrieved voter purported that the hopeful candidate had sworn to offer them their dues at the aforementioned location, but did not show up.
Campaign
They alleged that there were some of them from an initial group, who were offered some money and it turned out that it was not sufficient to cater for all of them. They were then advised to wait for one of the campaign managers who had gone to the bank to withdraw more money, but he disappeared without a trace. To teach them a lesson, they retaliated by contacting this publication to expose them for dishonesty. The majority of the crowd, however, refused to have their pictures taken facing the camera.
Also, another complainant from the crowd also alleged that the aspirant legislator had engaged in a similar act during the primary elections, as they had to hitchhike back to their respective residences as he did not show up to offer them the promised money. When they were asked why they violated the Elections Act, as it provided voting procedures, the irate crowd said they worked in the textile industry, which did not pay decent salaries, hence, they needed an extra income. As more questions were posed to them, the crowd decided to disperse and walked away. On the other hand, another crowd was found at the President Centre Shopping Complex, along Ngwane Street, where they confirmed that they were from some of the textile factories in Matsapha.
Deposited
They said they had been organised by one of the shopping stewards of their union to come to Manzini to vote. They said they had been advised to wait near a certain shopping complex for a certain campaign agent, who was expected to offer some guarantee that money would be deposited to their bank accounts. They claimed to have been promised E100 and food parcels on condition the MP candidate won the parliamentary elections. However, they claimed that the so-called campaign agent had his mobile phone, for the better part of the day, switched off. Consequently, they were left idle.
They pinned their hopes on their union shop steward to get their money from the aspiring MP, now regardless of the outcome of the voting, vowing that he should pay or else brace himself for unbearable expletives. Within the same constituency, there were claims that there was another aspiring legislator who was rewarding people with food parcels at Ngwane Park. This reportedly happened near the intersection of the Ngwane Park Public Road and Mhlaleni – Nhlangano Public Road.
Meanwhile, one of the candidates named by the group, which was waiting along Du Toit Street dismissed the allegations with disdain. In fact, the candidate said: “The allegations by the textile factory workers is nothing new. These are politics and people can do anything to tarnish your name in the hope of gaining sympathy votes.” Furthermore, the mobile phone of another MP hopeful rang unanswered for the better part of the day.
In the capital city, there was drama, mainly at the Mbabane East, where Sandile ‘Nkomishi’ Ginindza was not a happy man – not at all.
Accusing
Ginindza, a professional footballer who has played soccer in the shores and South Africa, was a frustrated man, accusing some of the candidates for dishing out cash to voters in possible return for votes. The former Mbabane Swallows goalkeeper was among the candidates who were vying for the position of MP for Mbabane East. He had also vented out his frustrations in the past few days leading to the secondary elections. Hurting, the soccer player could not hold his frustration this time. He had to confront officers from the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) to demand answers on what he termed unfairness in the elections exercise.
It was just before noon when the player arrived at KaBoyce Primary School and went straight to the EBC officers to register his misgivings.
He first asked how they were going to ensure that the counting of the votes was done in a fair and transparent manner. An explanation was given to him by the EBC officers that the ballot boxes would be closely monitored and guarded by police officers in all the polling stations. They also explained to him that the candidates would be allowed inside the counting centres to monitor the process.
However, the explanation seemingly did not satisfy him, as he mentioned that he had lost trust in both the members of the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) and EBC officers. He claimed that he reported an incident on Tuesday, where he came across some people, believed to be registered voters receiving money from certain individuals. Even though he mentioned the name of the candidate, it has been withheld as there was no proof given to substantiate the allegations. Ginindza claimed that he enquired from those who had received the money as to who the giver was and surprisingly they mentioned the name of one of his competitors.
“Ever since I reported the incident, I have not received any feedback from the EBC officers. To me it is a sign that there is a lot of unfairness in this process. Someone is being given an unfair advantage over us. Right now I do not know if the votes will be tempered with and this is causing me heartache,” he said. He then asked the Returning Officer, Thamie Dlamini, what action had been taken ever since he reported his concern to the EBC.
The response he got was that all concerns reported to the EBC were being handled in a fair and transparent manner.
As if to prove that he was more concerned and frustrated, Ginindza then asked to know what was being done to remove some cars parked right next to the gate of the polling stations. “Inside those cars there are people who are dishing out money to the voters. If that is procedural, we should all be allowed to give out money because we have it as well,” he said. His statement prompted the EBC officers to request him to report to the police officers, who were patrolling the premises. Ginindza walked towards three police officers who were standing next to where the verification exercise was being conducted. He was seen walking with them towards the gate. Joining them were officers from His Majesty’s Correctional Services (HMCS) and they all stood outside the gate. He was asked to show the officers the cars and the people he claimed were dishing out cash to the voters.
Explaining
For over 10 minutes, he was seen standing with the security officers explaining that he was sure of what he was talking about. Some of the officers explained to him that they could not order the removal of cars parked outside the gate of the polling stations. The officers said there was nothing illegal about parking cars outside the gate, but he was allowed to report if he spotted or suspected any wrongdoing in those vehicles. Having failed to show the officers what he alleged to have seen, the search for probable mischief was halted and Ginindza walked inside the polling station.
Life was at risk at Mswati II High School under Ntfonjeni Inkhundla, when the voting process was disrupted. A man is alleged to have been stabbed in the back after a dispute with another. There are unconfirmed reports that another man might have also been stabbed at the heat of an argument.
The incident reportedly happened outside the polling station, but among the voters who were waiting for their turn to vote. In a bid to control the crowd, the voters were kept outside the gate to the polling station and this allowed the polling officers to let in the voters in an orderly manner that did not compromise safety and security. This arrangement culminated in large crowds gathering outside the gate to the polling station as those who already voted also joined the people there. It is understood that it was during this time, just before 5pm that an argument ensued, resulting in the stabbing. One person is said to have been rushed to the hospital.
Stabbing
Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati confirmed the incident of the stabbing. She could not confirm, however, whether it was one person who was stabbed or two. “The police officers are heading there now,” said Vilakati. Meanwhile, there were no other similar incidences in other polling stations.