Times Of Swaziland: ECSPONENT CASE:  GOVT SHOULD PAY - MPS;  AG SAYS NO

ECSPONENT CASE:  GOVT SHOULD PAY - MPS;  AG SAYS NO
================================================================================
Nonduduzo Kunene on 29/11/2024 09:31:00


LOBAMBA – “The answer is an emphatic no.”
These were the words of the Attorney General, Sifiso Mafelenkhosini Khumalo,
yesterday in Parliament as he provided clarity on a submission that seemed to be
popular in the House of Assembly. During the debate of the Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr
INC (CDH) Forensic Report on the E335 million that was lost through Ecsponent,
most Members of Parliament (MPs) were suggesting that government should pay the
investors.
The MPs, who included Nkilongo MP Petros Mavimbela, Shiselweni II MP Bhekithemba
Bhembe, Lobamba MP Michael Masilela, Ntfonjeni MP, Manzini Region MP Thandeka
Mavuso, Mhlambanyatsi MP Dr Bonginkhosi Dlamini, among others suggested that
government should pay the investors and then look for Dave van Niekerk, George
Manyere, Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) and others to recover
the funds.
The MPs said the reason they feel government should pay the investors while it
looks for the suspects is because its entities failed to carry out their
mandate. They suggested that from the two recommendations that were made by the
committee, a third option should be added.The committee, in the tabled report,
had suggested that the investors could continue with the legal processes,
involving lawsuits and counter lawsuits, should be given space, no matter how
long it takes, to bring this matter to finality.
The second one was whether the House assigns the minister for Finance, working
with the Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE) Governor to set in motion a model that
will get all the two major stakeholder’s companies on the matter involving
Manyere and van Nierkerk; FSRA and others, to at least, pay back the principal
amounts paid by the investors into Ecsponent Eswatini. The issues of accrual of
interest due to investors may be handled separately. It was highlighted that
there was a likelihood that more people, if they continue with the court route,
might die without getting their money as 81 of the the over 1 000 investors have
already passed away.Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo after noting that most
MPs were suggesting that government, which is funded by taxpayers, should pay
the investors, sought clarity from the AG on whether Parliament could compel
government to pay the investors using public funds.
Constitution
The AG said: “The answer is an emphatic no; that cannot happen.” He said the
House cannot expect government to pay the investors especially because the funds
in question are not public funds as envisaged in Section 206 of the
Constitution, but private investments. Khumalo said Parliament has authority
where it concerns public funds that are in the consolidated funds such as taxes.
He added that Parliament can debate the forensic report but cannot pronounce who
should pay, given that there is a matter that is pending in court relating to
the matter. “The court is seized with the matter and it is not up to
Parliament to say the matter should be withdrawn from court but for the
litigants who are the investors,” he said.