By Zweli Martin Dlamini

In a country ruled by a culture of impunity and corruption,when a poor man competes against a rich man, the rich man normally emerges as the winner.

We witnessed the election of Jabulani ‘Buy Cash’ Mabuza as the Speaker in the House of Assembly on Friday, the Pigg’s Peak Member of Parliament(MP) who is a multimillionaire secured forty-one(41) votes against Mhlangatane MP Madala Mhlanga who secured twenty-eight(28)votes.

But a few minutes later,the very same MP Madala Mhlanga was subsequently voted by almost all the members of the House when competing for the position of Deputy Speaker with Nkwene MP Sikhumbuzo Dlamini, Mhlanga secured forty-six(46) votes beating MP Dlamini who secured nineteen(19).

The question is,how did Mhlanga accumulate such a large number of votes when competing against another MP who is not a millionaire like Buy Cash?.

This means some of the MPs wanted Mhlanga as Speaker but money influenced them to vote for Buy Cash, I am mentioning this because some MPs confirmed off-record that Mabuza paid them, he was actually visiting some within their homes campaigning for the position with money.

The MPs first voted for money into the position of Speaker but subsequently, they voted fairly in the Deputy Speaker position because, MPs Sikhumbuzo Dlamini and Madala Mhlanga do not have the financial muscle like Buy Cash,the Deputy Speaker competition was fair and credible.

Forty-six(46) votes is more than half of the House and worth-noting, for the MP who previously lost with twenty-eight(28) votes to ‘Buy Cash’ and clearly, some of the MPs indicated who they were actually supporting before money influenced their decision.

But despite the dirty politics that manifested ahead of the election of Speaker, we witnessed political maturity when Mhlangatane MP Madala Mhlanga went on to congratulate and hug the new Speaker.