LOBAMBA – PRIME Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini has challenged Members of Parliament (MPs) to self-introspect on whether they were still serving the nation in its entirety or serving individuals and their own interests.
Dlamini said it was not right if some of them make decisions based on how much money or gifts they have received from individuals, based on any form of intimidation, or on promises made to them. This was during the debate of the prime minister’s office 2025/26 financial year performance report in the Senate yesterday.
The PM made an example that when the Constitution was being drafted, MPs made sure that the right of recall by voters on MPs was removed. He said the different tinkhundla had previously been allowed to recall their MPs if they no longer understood what they were doing or felt they were no longer serving their interests in Parliament. He added that even though the process of removing the right of recall was not supposed to happen, it did occur before the Constitution was finalised with this provision specifically removed in Parliament.
“What is currently happening is the reason why this was done. They then come here and say they will move a vote of no confidence. How will they move a vote of no confidence when they expressed fear in giving tinkhundla the right to recall them when they do not perform?” he wondered.
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The prime minister said Parliament should instead prioritise job creation, stating that in the budgeting process as Cabinet they had decided to focus on major projects that would employ 5 000 or more people because the unemployment rate was very high in the country. He said if they were to go against what they had planned, they were bound to experience setbacks.
Coming to the budgeting process, he clarified that it starts with the people and then goes to the ministries. He said there were people employed to do the planning process, stating that not everything implemented by government comes from the constituencies. He said there were officials responsible for the planning process.
He said after planning, projects are costed and then the budget process begins. He said after being budgeted for, Cabinet approves and then the budget is taken to Parliament.
“Having noticed that there was something wrong after Cabinet approved the budget; I went to the office of the attorney general and asked those trustworthy and relevant in the budgeting process to give me a legal opinion. They said Parliament should not be allocating or be directly involved in the budgeting process,” he said.
Dlamini said this was not a secret because part of this opinion was received by the minister of finance and the attorney general was aware of it. He said he was, however, disappointed to learn that there was a group that still wanted to proceed with budgeting even though they knew it was illegal. He said this was the same group of people who were expected to follow the law.
“They wanted to know how they would bend this until they got what they wanted. After approving the budget in Cabinet, another version came, and it was done by the portfolio committee. My position, based on legal advice, was that it was wrong for the portfolio committee to look at the budget before it was tabled in Parliament,” he said.
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Dlamini added that the committee tabled a report before the budget was debated.
He noted that this should have been like a boarding governance, where authority is exercised collectively, not individually. He said, according to the legal opinion he received, this was not supposed to happen.
“The proceedings in Parliament do not show that this is an honourable House, especially if someone stands up to speak about an important issue and is ignored or attacked simply because of who they are. They attack the person,” he said.
He said this was not conducive and that the nation had to take note of it. He said Members of Parliament from both chambers should engage on this matter.
He said he was disappointed that the finance committee’s report was accepted for presentation despite being illegal and wrong.
He questioned why Parliament would allow such a report to be presented. He said he was relieved that he was not the only one who had identified the abnormality, stating that otherwise he would have suffered a heart attack.
Dlamini said this would have suggested something was wrong with him.
He then appreciated the senators for also raising the issue.
