Times Of Swaziland: E670 000 ALLOWANCES FOR PLE EXECUTIVE BOARD E670 000 ALLOWANCES FOR PLE EXECUTIVE BOARD ================================================================================ BY SABELO NDZINISA on 25/04/2020 23:50:00 MBABANE – The Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) Executive board allegedly received a share of E670 000 as allowances for the year ended June 30, 2019, this publication can reveal. According to an Independent Audit Report on identified weaknesses in the internal control system of the PLE in possession of this newspaper, the 2018 Audited Financial Statements for the organisation showed a sum of E1 026 200 in respect of Executive Special Fund, which the report claimed that at the time, this had not been explained by the board. The executive committee is chaired by Peter ‘Touch’ Magagula while other members are Sicelo Mkhonta, Rudolph Matsenjwa, Mark Carmichael while Bongani ‘Bhanyaza’ Mdluli was co-opted recently. stipulating The report further alleges that there is no written policy or agreement stipulating the rate of Executive Board allowances to be paid to board members. “The audit team obtained supporting documents of E65 000 of the total E913 535 paid in respect of Executive Board expenses. We have noted that E670 000 of the E913 535 was transferred to an (name of bank deliberately withheld) account with supporting documents. All these payments were made to one account not transferred to each board member’s bank account,” it is alleged in the report in part. In essence, this means the allowances were allegedly claimed within six months. The breakdown of the E913 535 is displayed in a table format by the report, detailing how this money was allegedly withdrawn on three different dates from the same account. withdrawn A total amount of E270 000 was allegedly first withdrawn on August 22, 2018 before while on December 12, 2018, E200 000 was also allegedly taken from the same bank account. The final E200 000 was allegedly withdrawn on March 7, 2019, bringing the total of the amount allegedly withdrawn to E670 000. On the foreseeable risk faced by the organisation, the audit team noted that there is a risk of fraud due to theft, fraud or error and embezzlement of funds, stating that, “all board allowances payments be accompanied by supporting documents and be paid directly to board members.” It is further stated that the audit team obtained supporting documents of E65 000 of the total E913 535. PLE Executive Finance chairman Sicelo Mkhonta was contacted last night and he stated that as far he knew, the financials in question were adopted by the Board of Governors in a Special Meeting. “The issue of financials was deferred during the AGM last year to a special meeting where they (financials) were adopted by the members. So, as far as I know, that issue is closed,” Mkhonta said. When it was put to him that there were allegations from some governors claiming not to be aware of the board allowances as outlined in the audit report, the Manzini Sea Birds’ official maintained his position. adopted “Like I pointed out, the financials were adopted in a special meeting and if there were queries about what was presented, they would have been raised in that forum. As of now, we are busy with financials for this ending year,” he said. Interestingly, some of the Governors contacted by this newspaper, insisted that this issue was not dead and buried. “We definitely will be taking up this issue during the next AGM because members want answers on that audit report because most of them were not aware of such. This matter is far from over because the allowances must be explained clearly,” a member of the Board confided. The audit team also noted that performance measurement exercise was not conducted for the period under review, recommending that a performance appraisal system be put in place to measure the performance of all employees compared to their job description.