Cash, food and alcohol have been distributed and even prisoners
in jail have been given money during the camapign.
Newspapers in Swaziland (the kingdom recently renamedEswatini by its absolute monarch King Mswati III) have reported extensively on
bribery throughout the registration, nomination and primary election stages.
People go to the polls on Saturday (25 August 2018) for the primary election
with final voting due on 21 September.
People convicted of bribery at election time in
Swaziland face fines of E10,000 or two years in prison.
Political parties are banned from taking part in the
election and candidates must stand as individuals. Elections
in Swaziland are widely
regarded as not democratic by observers outside the kingdom. The
King choses the Prime Minister and government ministers and the parliament has
no powers as these rest with the King.
Bribery is taking many forms. At Maphungwane in the Matsanjeni North
Constituency football teams rejected a E10,000 (US$790) sponsorship from an
aspiring member of parliament. The Swazi
Observer reported (18 May 2018) that the sponsorship was in the form of
prize money that would be paid at the end of the football season and after the
election had been held.
The newspaper reported the clubs’ representatives questioned the timing
of the sponsorship and rejected the offer. One club boss told the newspaper
that aspiring MPs had also tried to manipulate them in the past.
The Swazi Observer reported
(21 May 2018) A former government minister was accused of bribing people with
promises of food parcels for their votes. It did not name the man but said he
and his brother had been offering free meals and transporting people to
registration points in the Hhohho region. People had made verbal agreements to
vote for the ex-minister when the election proper began. The newspaper reported
that police, acting on a tip off, detained and recorded statements from 17
people.
Poverty-stricken textile workers said they sold their votes for cash
and chicken pieces. The Swazi
Observer reported (27 May 2018) sitting members of parliament had sent
their agents into factories to buy up votes in the industrial town of Matsapha.
People said they were persuaded to register as residents of the surrounding
areas as opposed to their chiefdoms of origin.
Other textile workers in Nhlangano said groups of 50 or 60 of them had
been given free lunches by sponsors of people keen to win seats in parliament.
They also said transport costs to and from work had been paid. The Swazi Observer reported (15 June 2018)
that some outgoing MPs were involved.
More recently, The Times of Swaziland (10 August 2018) reported,
A crowd of elated textile workers at Fashion
International in Matsapha Industrial Site, ‘danced outside their factory while waving E50 notes that had been
allegedly given to them by an aspiring MP’ from one of the
constituencies in the Manzini Region.
The newspaper reported the money was distributed by the candidate’s
campaign managers who were also employed in the factory. It said 250 workers
were given at least E250 each.
The Sunday Observer (19 August 2018)
reported that prisoners were being paid by aspiring candidates to ‘grease the
palm’ of potential voters.
It also reported a series of cases of voter bribery. ‘In Siphofaneni, an
aspiring MP was captured giving out bread and sodas to members of his
constituency this past week. He is said to have encouraged members of the
public to vote for him if they want to continue getting the parcels.
‘Another aspiring MP is reported to be allegedly giving out chicken
portions in Matsapha to textile employees from his parked vehicle while his
contenders are giving out sums of money.
‘In Manzini, another is reportedly giving out a minimum of E50 notes to
registered voters who sing his praises as soon as he appears.
‘In Mbabane, food parcels are given out in the dead of night while
drinks are given freely by agents at drinking spots with a reminder as to who
funded them.’
In Swaziland, people are only allowed to vote for 59 members of the
House of Assembly, the King appoints a further 10. No members
of the 30-strong Swaziland Senate are elected by the people.
See also
Swaziland People Not Allowed To Elect Government
Organised
Certainty, Why elections in Swaziland are not democratic
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