Prime Minister (PM) Russell Mmiso Dlamini says there is unity in Cabinet, but admitted that they sometimes do not see eye-to-eye, noting that ministers who were leaking Cabinet business were being engaged.
“Kukhona kubambisana kukhulu futsi kukhona nalapho kuphunyuka khona. Kuyalungisiswa njalo njalo bayalwe labo labaphunyukelwako,” he said in vernacular.
This was during the debate on the Prime Minister’s Office first-quarter performance report yesterday.
Dlamini was responding to concerns that division in Cabinet persists.
The premier said they were working in unity as Cabinet, but stated that the truth was that this was not always the case.
He said this could not be hidden as some of the things that they discussed in Cabinet were being leaked and changed from the correct narrative.
He said this was not his problem, but a problem of how people were brought up and how they handled themselves individually.
“We do discuss things in Cabinet and reach agreements, but then a person decides to go a separate way and raise the issues in Parliament. I do not remember the prime minister doing such,” he said.
He said MPs should also come to him and engage him on their communication to be one-sided and asked them not to base their decisions on hearsay.
This was after Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo said His Majesty King Mswati III, in his Speech from the Throne in 2024, spoke about cannabis as part of ways the country can use to generate revenue.
He said to this day, there was nothing, but they were asked to clap hands because government had done something.
“People from Lobamba Lomdzala would not do that. They have spoken about the disunity in Cabinet and we are told that it is caused by the contrast in ideas. These people have also paid a fine because they did what they otherwise do in Cabinet somewhere else where they were not supposed to,” he said.
Khumalo stated that the country was not progressing and could not if such disunity was glaring in the very administration that had to take the country forward.
He said there was nothing to appreciate because the country could not progress due to what was happening within the Executive.
He asked the PM to follow and abide by the laws of the country.
Appointed MP Chief Ngalonkulu Mabuza asked if there was any peace and unity in Cabinet because he believed in collective work. He said the entire Cabinet was pointing fingers at each other.
Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker Madala Mhlanga stated that the budget they were receiving as Parliament did not indicate that they were an arm of government.
He also noted that they were being attacked for the funds they used on external travel, revealing that he once asked the Minister of Finance to give them a report on how much the Executive spends on external travel.
“We are more than 70 and the Executive is 20,” he said.
He added that they should have access to the PM, stating that it would be productive if the PM directly contacted a member that he had an issue with instead of the hearsay they were hearing.
He noted that they did not have the power to pass a vote of no confidence against the PM as he was appointed by the King. He said personally he could not do that.
“You must have direct access to all Members of Parliament and I encourage one-on-one engagements with them,” he said.
Mafutseni MP Sabelo Mtsetfwa advised that the Prime Minister should give Cabinet ministers an ear, just as he would want them to listen to him so that the development of the grand plan could be implemented.
He said they would help him as Parliament and would not stand in his way.
“The Cabinet ministers are blaming you and we are asking that you fix that. You are still young and you will have many terms as a prime minister if you can align yourself, you can occupy the position for four terms,” he said.
