Africa-Press – Eswatini. In what was a busy day for Attorney General (AG) Sifiso Khumalo, Siphofaneni Member of Parliament (MP) Nomalungelo LaZwide Simelane joined her 58 other colleagues in pledging allegiance to His Majesty King Mswati III.
Yesterday, the newly-elected legislators in Parliament took their oath of office, including the gospel singer who garnered a lot of attention. Part of her oath involved a promise to respect the Monarch. For the record, Simelane is a confessed member of the Swaziland Liberation Movement (SWALIMO), which is ironically led by her exiled husband Mduduzi ‘Gawuzela’ Simelane.
Disqualified
‘Gawuzela’ is a former Siphofaneni MP, but was disqualified from Parliament for not attending 20 consecutive sittings after he took a self-imposed exile. To date, Simelane’s whereabouts remain only a speculation, especially on social media. LaZwide won a Parliament seat through a by-election in Siphofaneni, replacing Gawuzela. However, she served for less than a year. Yesterday, all eyes were on her as she took an oath. SWALIMO is known for being critical of the country’s authorities, particularly on social media platforms.
As she made her way to take the oath like the rest of her colleagues, many waited in anticipation of whether she would declare her allegiance to the King. There was brief tension in the House as she undertook the oath led by the AG, but to her credit, she looked unfazed as she calmly went through the oath, prompting murmurs of disbelief from some MPs.
Well-conducted
All the 59 elected MPs were sworn in by the AG with the assistance of officials from his office in what was a well-conducted process. The MPs took turns to be sworn in, holding the Bible in their right hands and taking oath before filing their signatures. It is worth noting that while other MPs did not have a problem holding up the Bible with their right hands when taking the oath, others preferred to touch it during the process. Interestingly, the MPs were only allowed to sit on their chairs inside the House of Assembly after taking the oath, which confirmed them as parliamentarians.
The process of taking oath took over two hours and the first to take the podium was appointed MP Prince Simelane, who is the former Minister of Housing and Urban Development. She was followed by Princess Lindiwe (former Home Affairs Minister) before Prince Lindani followed suit.
Appointed
These were then followed by appointed chiefs before the rest of the legislators were called up by the AG. Many newly-elected MPs were filled with excitement as they headed towards the AG to take their oath of office. One of them, Michael Masilela, was particularly exuberant, with a beaming smile that could have won him a Colgate endorsement. He danced his way to the AG and even pumped his fists in jubilation after completing the process. It was clear that he was thrilled to be officially confirmed as a Member of Parliament.
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