Africa-Press – Eswatini. Muti claims rocked the primary elections at Manzini North (Makholweni Chiefdom) and as a result one of the aspiring MPs, Webster Lukhele, ended up arriving at the polling station after 2pm.
According to the Manzini North MP candidate, who is also the President of Eswatini Boxing Association (EBA), he had planned to go to the polling station at around 8am, but when he was preparing to leave his place of abode, one of his campaign managers warned him to delay his arrival. The polling station was at Hillside.
Electorate
He said when he asked why he should delay, yet he wanted the electorate to see him when going to the ballot box and to also monitor the voting process; the campaign manager (galajane) told him that they spotted certain people sprinkling a fluid-like substance on the path towards the polling station. “He told me to delay so that they can buy salt and scatter it on the spots where the fluid-like substance had been sprinkled. He told me they believed it was muti because the person who sprinkled it did it in such a manner that people cannot see him. He (galajane) managed to spot him because he was monitoring his movements,” the MP said. Thereafter, he said since the claims were serious and could pose a threat to him, he decided to delay going to the polling station, for his safety. He said he took this decision even though he knew that it could put him at a disadvantaged position as most, if not all the other candidates, were at the polling station – visible to the electorate.
Process
The aspiring MP arrived at the polling station just after 2pm and he went through the screening process before casting his vote – for MP and constituency headman. This, he said, was after the campaign manager informed him that they believed it was safe for him to come as they had scattered salt where the suspected muti was purportedly sprinkled. Efforts of getting the person suspected to have sprinkled the muti proved futile as it was alleged that after the incident, he was purportedly assigned to do other duties away from the polling station. It is worth noting that Lukhele obtained the highest votes (542) under the MP position at Makholweni Inkhundla during the primary elections.
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