Africa-Press – Eswatini. “I’m now in the right office.”
This was said by Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Prince Simelane during his farewell dinner organised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, where he served as minister in the 11th Parliament. The dinner was held at Happy Valley Hotel in Ezulwini on Monday. As always, the prince made reference to the scripture before getting into the gist of his speech. He said God came up with the 10 Commandments written in a scroll before He showed them to Moses. He stated that the first scroll was damaged, resulting in God coming up with another scroll. The minister said the two scrolls symbolised two sections of the laws, which he said were laws directed to God and human kind. “This means that God has an office to administer His laws and that is where I am today,” the minister said. He said God warned people against killing each other but such continued, in particular of women and children.
Demon
“What has become of Eswatini? I have no words to describe the demon that is prevailing in this country. Even Beelzebub seems better than this demon,” he said. The minister said the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs was tasked with coming up with stringent laws that sought to guard against gender-based violence (GBV) and corruption, among other crimes. “As I stated before His Majesty King Mswati III in the presence of Army Commander Fakudze and Maphalala, that if a farmer has crops in his fields, he/she needs to fence the fields so that the crops will be protected. I came out clear that the real fence is the security forces. I will make sure that I introduce the fence in the form of strict laws, where I have been sent,” he said. The prince likened the desired laws to a razor wire and electric fence, meaning they should serve as a deterrent to offenders and other would-be offenders.
He said criminals easily committed crimes because the laws were not deterred. However, the minister was quick to state that the desired laws should be within the confines of the Constitution. “No one should come from the forest and issue instructions in a country that is governed by laws aligned with the Constitution,” he said. On another note, the minister said emaSwati raised their concern about the country’s failure to curb corruption. He made reference to a revelation made by former Minister of Finance, Majozi Sithole, to the effect that Eswatini was losing E40 million to corruption per month. He said the loss translated to E80 million in two months. He stated that, as far as he recalled, the country roped in the Scorpions to assist the Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate the matter but there was no positive outcome. “We will look into that as well,” the minister said.
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