Times Of Swaziland: ICC STOLEN MATERIAL HAS COMPLETED A HOUSE - MP

ICC STOLEN MATERIAL HAS COMPLETED A HOUSE - MP
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Nonduduzo Kunene and Sabelo Majola  on 05/03/2024 14:30:00


MBABANE – Lobamba MP Michael Masilela stunned legislators when he alleged that
theft at the ICC and FISH construction site was so rampant that a house had been
completed using the stolen material.
Masilela said he could even take the Members of Parliament (MPs) to the house in
question, if they needed proof on what he was submitting about. He shared that
the house was boasting costly material, like water taps, which cost no less than
E25 000 and these were the same taps that had allegedly been procured for the
ICC and FISH project. Masilela submitted that one of the biggest setbacks at the
International Convention Centre (ICC) and Five Star Hotel (FISH) was theft and
this anomaly was contributing immensely to the delay in completing the project.
The MP said this during the debate of the Ministry of Finance’s annual
performance report for the financial year 2023/24 in Parliament yesterday.
Argument
Masilela’s argument was that emaSwati had adopted a culture of stealing and
made it a normal way of life. He said some employees at the site were
complaining that the project would take forever to complete, because people were
helping themselves to the building material. Masilela mentioned to the MPs that,
given the setting of the project, which is within the Lobamba Constituency, he
was aware of the anomalies that were ongoing at the construction site and he
challenged the Minister of Finance, Neal Rijkenberg, to do something about it.
“It is such a pity that when one raises these issues, the concerns are
interpreted out of context and it appears as though you are attacking the
country’s authority. My biggest concern is that we are stealing too much and
the country will not achieve much until the issue of corruption is dealt with
head-on,” he said.
According to the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development report, the
ICC’s actual expenditure for the current financial year was E175 116 785 and
the revised practical completion date was now December 2024. One of the
challenges in this project, as highlighted in the report, include that the
process of having the EXIM Bank money being disbursed was delaying, much against
the expectation of the ministry. “The current budget allocation under local
resources has been exhausted; any claim for work done cannot be paid under the
prevailing situation,” reads the report.
Corruption
Masilela also submitted that another sad part was that when arrests were made on
corruption, it was only the small fish that was made scapegoats and targeted,
leaving the head-honchos scot free. This was also a concern from Speaker in the
House, Jabulani ‘Buy Cash’ Mabuza, who drew the attention of the MPs to
recent reports, that there were individuals ‘labangabopheki’, as revealed by
the Auditor General, Timothy Matsebula. Mabuza said there was need to disclose
the names of those individuals, so that legally, action could be taken against
them. The Speaker said as it was, people were making their own assumptions from
such statements and unfortunately everyone was put in the same basket, because
people did not know who these people were. “Why make such statements if the
people referred to will not be disclosed. We need to know who these people are
and if they have indeed committed acts of crime, they should face the law,”
Mabuza said. Nhlambeni MP Manzi Zwane was concerned about the security of the
AG, submitting that it was seemingly not a priority to government. He also
raised a concern that the Office of the AG was not only deprived of
independence, but was understaffed and as such, he could only do an audit in
only nine schools out of over 200 across the country.