Times Of Swaziland: ‘PS’ BIRTHDATES DISCREPANCIES REPORTED TO ACC’

‘PS’ BIRTHDATES DISCREPANCIES REPORTED TO ACC’
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Kwanele Dlamini on 29/01/2025 11:04:00


MBABANE – CSC Chairman Simanga Mamba says the Public Service PS’s matter was
reported to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). The chairman of the Civil
Service Commission (CSC) was responding to the application that has been filed
by the principal secretary (PS) in the Industrial Court, challenging the
decision of the commission that he should retire on February 3, 2025. In his
answering papers, Mamba submitted that he only intervened after the matter had
been reported to the ACC for investigation on how the alteration of his date of
birth had been carried out. “My intervention was that the matter should not be
referred to the Anti-Corruption Commission, but should be first dealt with
internally since the applicant (Tsabedze) is a senior officer,” Mamba informed
the court.
He stated that upon perusing Tsabedze’s file, he found that his registered
date of birth for the Employment Form was February 3, 1965, even though there
are many other dates of birth in the other documents as mentioned in the Civil
Service Commission (CSC) ruling. Mamba also told the court that his awareness of
the matter was only informal and did not extend to the alteration of the date of
birth. The process leading to Tsabedze’s alteration of the date of birth,
according to Mamba, was wrong.He said, therefore, the requirement of the law was
not complied with on the purported waiver. He informed the court that the under
secretary (US) was not authorised in terms of General Order 9(2) to act as
principal secretary. However, Mamba said he was not aware of the circumstances
surrounding this matter since it was never referred to the CSC.
“I even asked the applicant to respond to the legal opinion by the attorney
general, which he never did. I also asked the secretary to Cabinet to also
follow the attorney general’s legal opinion in the matter. To therefore
suggest that I condoned this unlawful act is not true.” Mamba submitted that
the decision of the commission was communicated to Tsabedze and the minister
through their respective offices, when it was delivered on January 8, 2025.
According to the CSC chairman, the present proceedings are misplaced. “The
applicant ought to have approached the commission for the alteration of the
date. The commission would have performed its constitutional mandate and
resolved the matter expeditiously.
“The CSC as employer has the power in terms of the Constitution to ensure that
officers do not illegally alter their dates of birth. Therefore, the commission
has the requisite power to consider the applicant’s matter,” said Mamba. He
informed the court that the CSC exercised its constitutional mandate in terms of
Section 186 when determining the PS’s matter.
In terms of Section 186(c), the commission can exercise appellate functions,
with power to vary, in respect of certain decisions by persons or authorities
exercising delegated powers. He said this mandate was properly exercised in
Tsabedze’s matter.
Meanwhile, Tsabedze has filed an urgent court application in the Industrial
Court, arguing that the ruling of the CSC is based on a series of unfortunate
misunderstandings surrounding his date of birth. The heart of the matter lies in
the conflicting dates appearing on official documents. Tsabedze revealed in his
founding affidavit that his initial date of birth was recorded as January 1,
1963, a date he attributes to his illiterate grandfather who raised him and made
an educated guess.  Years later, with the assistance of his biological mother,
he obtained an amended birth certificate reflecting his true date of birth:
November 27, 1967. Adding to the confusion, Tsabedze included February 3, 1965,
on his initial employment application in 1988. This, he explained, was based on
information from his biological father who was uncertain of the exact date.