Times Of Swaziland: ATTORNEY GENERAL: PM’S STATEMENT ON AG’S OFFICE PERSONAL OPINION

ATTORNEY GENERAL: PM’S STATEMENT ON AG’S OFFICE PERSONAL OPINION
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Nonduduzo Kunene on 11/06/2024 18:13:00


LOBAMBA - The attorney general says Prime Minister (PM) Russell Dlamini’s
statement, doubting the competence of the Auditor General’s Office, was his
personal opinion and should not interfere with Parliament business.
The Attorney General, Sifiso Khumalo, said the Public Accounts Committee (PAC),
which suspended its sittings last Friday, could resume its work, unflinchingly,
as the PM’s statement could not be cited as an impediment. The PM was
addressing the Editors’ Forum of Eswatini and government officials last
Thursday, when he said certain events pointed to incompetence at the Auditor
General’s (AG) Office and further said there was doubt if his reports could be
relied upon.
Statement
The attorney general, who is also an ex-officio member of the House of Assembly,
yesterday told the House, during a sitting, that the PAC shall resume its
sittings. He said any statement made by the PM or Cabinet minister should not
affect the operation of Parliament. Khumalo stated that the PM did not have
power over Parliament. The attorney general said the suspension of the PAC
sittings was inappropriate. He said this after the Chairperson of the PAC and
Deputy Speaker, Madala Mhlanga, rose on a point of clarification, where he told
the House that he needed to clarify and shed light following the events of the
past few days.
Last Thursday, the PM questioned the competence of the auditor general’s
reports. On Friday morning, Mhlanga announced that following ‘the dark
cloud’ that was hanging over the Auditor General, Timothy Matsebula, and his
office, which was prompted by the PM’s statement, the sittings were suspended.
He noted that the PAC’s work was based on the audit queries that were raised
in the audit reports that were produced by the Auditor General’s Office.
Therefore, if there were questions about the competence of the reports, the PAC
had to suspend sittings, pending advice from the attorney general.
“Last week, PAC sittings were suspended as the committee was taken aback by a
statement that was made about an office that we work closely with -  the Auditor
General’s Office. We suspended sittings so we could get advice from the
attorney general on how we can go about with our work, while we have a dark
cloud hanging over the auditor general and the PAC. I consulted the auditor
general and the Speaker’s Office and it was stated that the PAC sittings
should not have been suspended, because the Parliament is an independent arm of
government that should not be affected by any utterances outside of it. I
relayed the matter to the Committee as well,” he said.
The PAC Chairperson told the House that they had been advised that the PAC
should continue with its sittings and urged Khumalo to clarify the legal
position on the matter.
Deviated
The attorney general stated that he had not deviated from the previous
conversation he had with the chairperson. Khumalo said the PM’s statement
should not affect the proceedings of the PAC or any Parliament business. “I
can confirm that indeed, the deputy speaker, who is also PAC chairperson,
contacted me and I gave him advice. I wish to state for the record that I stand
by what I said on our phone conversation. It was inappropriate for the PAC to
suspend sittings on the basis of a statement that had been issued by the PM in
another forum,” he said.
The attorney general shared with the House about the separation of powers.
Khumalo added that the government implemented Acts of Parliament, not the other
way around.  He stated that the country had three arms of government, which are
the Legislature, Executive and the Judiciary. He explained that these three
arms’s operations were independent of each other, as guaranteed by the
Constitution of Swaziland (Eswatini).
Khumalo said the job of the legislature is to make laws and play an oversight on
the Executive side of government. “The Executive arm of government is
responsible for the day-to-day operations of the government and implementing
laws that are made by Parliament. The Judiciary is responsible for interpreting
the law and passing judgments according to the law,” he said. He reminded the
MPs that the Legislature carries out its operations through sessional
committees, as provided in Section 129 of the Constitution. The attorney general
said the PAC and the Finance Committee were the only sessional committees that
were prescribed in the Constitution in terms of Section 209, meaning, the PAC is
a ‘creature’ of the Constitution and its powers are constitutionally
provided for.
Khumalo said the PM was just expressing his personal opinion and his opinion was
not binding on Parliament or any committee of Parliament, more especially the
PAC. “There should not be an opinion of any member of the Executive, be it the
PM, DPM or any minister, that can interfere with the duties of Parliament or
operations of this House, because of the independence that exists within the
three arms of government,” Khumalo said.
Suspend
Therefore, the PAC should not suspend sittings because; the PM expressed an
opinion, and the PM does not have powers to halt the operations of
Parliament.“There is no single member of the government Executive that has
powers to suspend Parliament business,” he said. He said since there was no
legal support for the suspension of the PAC’s operations, it was wrong for the
PAC to suspend its sittings. “We, therefore, advise that the PAC should resume
its operations, because there is no legal basis for the stoppage of work by the
PAC,” Khumalo said.
Mhlanga asked the PAC members to convene after yesterday’s sitting. At the
time this report was compiled, it had not been communicated officially when the
PAC sitting will resume.
Sigwe MP David Ngcamphalala lauded Khumalo and the deputy speaker for the
clarity. He said the clarity had assisted everyone who was unsure what was
happening, given the crucial task bestowed to the PAC.
However, Ntondozi MP Peter ‘Vulinjini’ Ngwenya needed further clarification,
given that inasmuch as the three arms of government were independent of each
other, their operations were somehow intertwined. He said he felt the PAC took
the decision based on that the people who should implement what the Legislature
had worked on were questioning what they were doing. “I feel like we still
have a problem here, we are talking about the PM of the country who said someone
was incompetent,” he said. Khumalo said the PM’s statement was not a fact,
but an opinion; therefore, an opinion should not affect Parliament’s business.