BY DELISA THWALA
MBABANE – The one thing hard to miss about His Majesty King Mswati III is his effortless sense of honour.
From when he entered the cattle byre at 2:57 pm and settled down for his 25 /30 minutes speech, His Majesty was dropping jokes every chance he got.
When His Majesty King Mswati III was speaking about elections, he said there should be free and fair elections and no one should be threatened or intimidated.
The King noted that on the weekend of July 22 and 23, 2023, the country will embark on the nomination stage of the 2023 General Elections.
The nominations will then be followed by primary elections. He said as the elections process would be taking place, no one should be threatened for participating.
His Majesty said the elections were free and fair, therefore, votes shall decide who would be elected into Parliament, not threats.
“Wonkhe umuntfu akaye ebhokisini nangabe akuhambi kahle kutikhanyele kona nje, hhayi kutsi bekukhona lokuhle kumjubela ngendlela,” he said.
His Majesty said there was a saying known as kungahlwa kwenile, where there would be people disturbing others. He called for that mentality to stop in order for the elections to be free and fair.
Worth mentioning is that the saying kungahlwa kwenile was mostly used during the unrest to mean when it gets dark, the violence would start.
“I pray that our elections be free and fair, no one will threaten another or conduct intimidating tactics on anyone, the ballot shall be the deciding factor this year,”
“There should be no one who will be doing dirty work in the dark, because we have heard in the past that kungahlwa kwenile, I hope and pray that such tactics will not be attempted in our nation, so that we have a free and fair election in the kingdom,” he said.
The King also urged emaSwati to be understanding that the country was on the path of attaining First World status.
“I believe that as the nation conducts the elections, it should be, at the back of each and every electorate, that the country aspires to be in the First World status, therefore, the people who will be elected will need to have this mindset and lead the country there as they will be part of government,” he said.
His Majesty King Mswati III did not disappoint the nation, as he ensured that all his speech had elements of humour.
The King left everyone laughing their face off, when he made a joke about night activities that related to black magic. His Majesty spoke in jest, while commending the electricity coverage in the country.
He noted that most rural areas had access to electricity in the country. He went on to say, that in some areas or places that were known for their late night activities (that might relate to vondoo magic), these were no longer being practised because it was no longer dark.
“Emuva kwakutsiwa kunalabagibela tintfo letitsite, kepha namuhla, awu sekute labangakugibela kulamalanga bekunene,” he said. “Before the country was joy like this, whenever we would see sparks of light or electricity, one would believe they saw longedleni. Konkhe seyintfo yasemuva,” he said much to the laughter of throngs of people.
