PRO-DEMOCRACY movements in Eswatini have described the general elections as a five-year ritual that is intended to fool the world.
This is as more than 500 000 Swati nationals are expected to go to the polls on Friday, 29 September.
The People's United Democratic Movement President Mlungisi Makhanya said the elections are a process intended at nothing but to sanitise the dictatorship of King Mswati.
He said members of parliament have no say in the Constitution of the executive as the king is the one who does the appointments, although the Constitution says only 50% of the Cabinet must be appointed by members of parliament.
"All that we are having in Eswatini is a five-year ritual that is intended to fool the world and the regions so that people can think that Eswatini is like any other countries in the region that holds regular elections," Mlungisi said.
Makhanya said although the registration number of people who are expected to vote is high, people didn't voluntarily register to vote but were forced to register as they were threatened by chiefs.
"The majority of people do not bother to go and vote because the elections are meaningless, they are not impactful, they change nothing. People have gone through this ritual over and over again and it produces the same thing.
"That is why we are saying, we are not involving ourselves both as an organisation and individuals," he said. He indicated that People's United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) will continue to fight to bring about change.
"We are fighting to bring about democracy, we know that you can never bring about freedom, liberation and ultimately democracy through the process that is controlled by the person who is responsible for your suffering in the first place. Our demands have been very clear, which is the normalisation of the political field which includes the unbanning of political parties, removal of legislation and laws that militates against the exercise of free political activities, unconditional release of all political prisoners," said Makhanya.
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Meanwhile Thantaza Silolo, spokesman of the Swaziland Liberation Movement, said that the elections in Eswatini do not comply with the international standards of allowing political parties to participate in the running of state affairs and the formation of government.
"The King of Swaziland together with the people he is working with do not want freedom or change. They don't want the resources of the country to be shared among people.
"They are now having this clique of rural authorities that are fighting and challenging every attempt to have pro-democracy activists in parliament. They are using all kinds of propaganda to persuade the masses from electing people who are going to be pro-change in parliament,” he said.
Eswatini Economic Freedom Fighter president, Nombulelo Motsa, told Daily Sun that the elections will not change anything about the political state of the country.
"The judiciary, legislature, executive is controlled by the king. All the power is still bestowed on the king. He is above the law. This current government system doesn't work for emaSwati but for the king, his close friends and family by manipulating the economy of the country. All we want is multi-party democracy," she said
At least 100 people were allegedly killed in 2021 in the country during political unrest. Two members of parliament who have been vocal in raising issues of concern from members of their constituencies were convicted by the state in June this year. Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube were arrested in July 2021 and charged for suppression of terrorism and contravention of the Covid-19 regulations.
Eswatini government spokesman, Alpheous Nxumalo, said all systems are in place for this year's elections. He said all eligible voters are quite ready to exercise their democratic right to vote for their representatives in their respective communities, constituencies and national parliament.
"We already have the observers from outside our realm who are here to observe how our democratic rights are unfolding. We would like to hereby invite the whole world to come and witness our parliamentary elections. It has been happening for 55 years and it will still happen in the hundred years to come and beyond, God willing," said Nxumalo.
