By Bongiwe Dlamini

MBABANE:Eswatini Members of Parliament(MPs) affiliated to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association(CPA) are back in the country after a benchmarking exercise in KwaZulu Natal Parliament.

According to a press statement sent to this Swaziland News on Sunday afternoon by the CPA Eswatini Executive Committee, the benchmarking exercise and exchange program in KwaZulu-Natal Legislature was under the auspices of the CPA ideals and objectives to which both entities belong. 

“The CPA is made up of 180 parliaments and provincial legislatures, globally. The exchange of ideas, especially in the area of parliamentary practice and procedure, is the cornerstone of this organization founded in 1911.The highlights of the excursion was a conducted tour of the Ohlange Institute, eNanda established by the founder of the African National Congress in 1912 Dr John Langalibalele Dube affectionately known as Mafukuzela. The delegation was also ushered into the hall where President Nelson Mandela made his first vote in 1994 in a new democratic South Africa, and then reported to the late Dr John L. Dube, whose tombstone is in the same vicinity, that ‘South Africa was now free’. The tour of the KZN Legislature on the next day was a great experience for the Eswatini parliamentarians, watching the debates between the Executive and backbenchers. KZN Premier Ntuli and his cabinet were in attendance. The EFF’s MPL Hon. Thwala greeted the delegation from the floor of the legislature during the debate, declaring that “you are watching the government in-waiting”. There was laughter”, reads the statement in part.