BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – Some members of the public have heaped praises on Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini for what they termed as political maturity.
The praises were heaped on Dlamini’s Facebook account.
The political maturity they talked about is that Dlamini, together with Ministers Phila Buthelezi and Jane Mkhonta-Simelane, and some Government officials, managed to go and be part of the Workers’ Day celebrations at Prince of Wales Sports Ground.
Another display of maturity, according to the members of the public, was that even though the PM and his Government officials were sometimes subjected to verbal abuse by the workers and members of political formations, they were tolerant enough to sit and listen to what the workers had to say.
On top of that, the PM, the Ministers and officials accepted when they were denied an opportunity to respond to what the workers had said to them. In short, they were denied their democratic right to reply by people who claim to subscribe to and live by democratic principles.
The workers were blamed by some of the members of the public for denying themselves an opportunity to be addressed by the PM on their important day. Another Facebook commentator wondered how the workers, who claimed to be democratic, could want other people to listen to them and stop listening when it was their turn to do so.
They described the PM as being the first leader to do what he had done and workers had to be thankful for that, as such a privilege would not happen in other countries.
Other commentators pleaded for the workers to be understood on what they did. They said workers had suffered deeply in their places of work and no one had addressed their plight for many years.
According to the commentators, the workers had suffered deep emotional scars and they were not ready to listen to the prime minister, as they felt that could be a waste of their time.
However, it must be stated that the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) tried to make it possible for Minister Buthelezi and the prime minister to address the workers. However, some of the workers would not let that happen.
When Minister Buthelezi was introduced by TUCOSWA President Bheki Mamba, he could not be able to finish speaking. Workers went near where he stood and shouted on top of their voices, trying to disturb him so that he could not speak.
The sound system, which was meant for his message to be heard, was interrupted.
The prime minister left upon seeing that it would not be possible to address the workers. The Government officials also left with the PM. Earlier on, members of the Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS) had made it clear that they would not allow any of the Cabinet ministers or the PM to speak during the event.
They started by trying to deny Minister Buthelezi an entry into the Prince of Wales Sports Ground. They said they just did not want to be addressed by any of the supporters of Tinkhundla system of governance. They blamed TUCOSWA executive members for allowing the PM and ministers to be part of the event.
