Times Of Swaziland: REVEALED: SOME ‘DEAD’ COVID-19 GRANTS BENEFICIARIES FOUND ALIVE

REVEALED: SOME ‘DEAD’ COVID-19 GRANTS BENEFICIARIES FOUND ALIVE
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Sabelo Majola on 30/08/2024 09:26:00


LOBAMBA – Some people registered dead in the Government Population Register
and death certificates registered by their relatives were found to be alive.
The National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) and the Ministry of Home Affairs
left the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) gobsmacked, after the entities paraded
evidence relating to the 321 people who received over E720 000 from the COVID-19
food relief exercise in 2021. The shocking news was delivered by the NDMA Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) Victor Mahlalela, yesterday. The NDMA was before the PAC
to respond to audit queries that were raised by the Auditor General (AG),
Timothy Matsebula, in a follow-up audit report in response to the PAC
recommendation for the financial year ended March 31, 2021, that was tabled on
July 31, 2024. The AG, in the follow-up audit, noted that he communicated to the
controlling officer that during his audit of the NDMA for the financial years
ended March 31, 2022 and 2023; COVID-19 food assistance grants amounting to E724
500 were paid to deceased persons through MTN Mobile Money (MoMo).
disbursed
These funds were disbursed to beneficiaries who were already deceased at the
time of processing the payments and were not withdrawn by these beneficiaries. 
In total, the number of the deceased beneficiaries was 321. The NDMA CEO told
the PAC that after the follow-up audit by the AG, the entity went on a
verification exercise to establish if these beneficiaries indeed had passed away
and when did they die. Noteworthy, the conclusion that 321 people had passed
away was confirmed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, through the Government
Population Register. Some of the people on the list of the deceased indicated
that they passed away in 2018, which was two years before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mahlalela told the PAC that they visited 171 households, who the deceased
beneficiaries were from and uncovered that some indeed passed away. The CEO said
to their surprise, they also discovered that nine people who were listed as dead
were alive.
assistance
“The households acknowledged that they continued to receive food assistance
after the passing of the main member. “We also found that nine of them were
alive yet they appeared dead from the civil registry,” he said. The PAC
Chairperson, Madala Mhlanga, enquired from the Ministry of Home Affairs
officials, who were invited to the sitting, to provide an insight on the matter
and how they concluded that the beneficiaries had passed on. The Ministry of
Home Affairs Civil Registry official, Phathizwe Hlatshwayo, stated that they
were given names with identity (ID) numbers of the beneficiaries, where with the
help of the Royal Eswatini Technology Park (RSTP), they ran through the system
and it was uncovered that some of the ID number holders were deceased. “The AG
approached us to verify over 2 000 personal identity numbers (PINs) and reached
out RSTP for assistance and we sent the spread sheet to them and they showed
several discrepancies, including those deceased officials,” he said.
unfortunate
Hlatshwayo added that the NDMA also came with the 331 list of deceased, which
they ran through the system. “It is unfortunate that after discovering that
nine from the 331 were alive, but did not come to alert the Ministry of Home
Affairs, so we can verify again,” he said.The officer explained that they
concluded that these individuals had passed away, because there were death
certificates registered for them by their relatives. “The system will register
you dead after a death certificate is registered in your name,” he said.
Mhlanga noted that from the list of the people who were said to be deceased,
some of them passed away before COVID-19 and questioned the CEO how a person who
passed away three years before the project ended up on the list of
beneficiaries.“It is unfortunate chair, the beneficiary you are referring to,
is among those we found to be alive,” he said.Without wasting any time, the
PAC chairperson urged the Ministry of Home Affairs to verify if there was a
death certificate registered in the beneficiary’s name.