By Zweli Martin Dlamini

LOZITHA:LiphosaKubekwa Senator Prince Lonkhokhela is allegedly lobbying to be appointed into Cabinet after his systematic removal as Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of the Eswatini National Provident Fund(ENPF).

LiphosaKubekwa is a siSwati word referring to a former Crown Prince who was disqualified by Ligunca to ascend to the Throne after developing kutfomba.

Information sourced from the royal family suggests that, Prince Lonkhokhela does not want to become a Parliament backbencher however,other children of King Sobhuza who are Private Advisors to King Mswati believe he can divide the Cabinet and clash with emaZinyane or his brothers and sisters because of his power of influence and sense of entitlement as he almost became the King.

It is unclear whether the new influential Senator will eventually be appointed to Cabinet.

The Prince did not respond to our message when asked to clarify if he was demanding to be in Cabinet or not.

It has been disclosed that,the King is highly expected to appoint or re-deploy Prince Simelane and Princess Lindiwe to Cabinet and there are fears that, Lonkhokhela might divide the Cabinet as he is from another faction of BantfwaBeNkhosi, Princess Lindiwe comes from the senior and influential royal household of King Sobhuza’s first-born son(Inkhosana) Prince Mgunundvu.

But King’s Spokesperson Percy Simelane,when responding to our questionnaire on Friday afternoon said, a “Cabinet list is prepared by the Prime Minister and presented to the King for approval” adding that, he was not aware of the alleged lobbying by Senator Prince Lonkhokhela.

“The norm is that the Prime Minister puts together a tentative Cabinet and goes to the King for approval.This is done behind closed doors, and only the approved list becomes public.We therefore have no idea how anyone else could gate-crush and get behind the closed doors in question to eavesdrop.The last sentence should be: As short as to tell we are not aware of the alleged campaign by Prince Lonkhokhela and the projected inclusion of Prince Simelane in Cabinet”, said the King’s Spokesperson.

On another note, Prince Lonkhokhela was systematically removed as CEO of the Eswatini National Provident Fund(ENPF), after his retirement he was allegedly seeking contract renewal but, the King allegedly instructed Cabinet to instruct the Board to employ a new CEO.

It could not be ascertained at this juncture, what the King seeks to achieve at the Provident Fund by removing Prince Lonkhokhela and re-deploy him to Parliament as a Senator.