Times Of Swaziland: POLICE SIDE IN SPOTLIGHT AS LEOPARD BLAMED FOR GOVT ... EXCESS EXPENDITURE

POLICE SIDE IN SPOTLIGHT AS LEOPARD BLAMED FOR GOVT ... EXCESS EXPENDITURE
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Nonduduzo Kunene on 10/06/2024 10:08:00


LOBAMBA – Royal Leopard is accused of draining the taxpayer.
Resources that could be used to improve service delivery within the police
service are said to be splashed on the team. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC)
asked for a detailed report of how much the team was taking from the public
purse. These sentiments were shared when the Royal Eswatini Police Service
(REPS) was recently before the PAC.
Inappropriate
The Auditor General in the Financial Audit Report on the Consolidated Government
Accounts of the Kingdom of Eswatini for the financial year ended March 31, 2023,
reported that significant inappropriate excess expenditures amounting to E62 337
528.04 incurred by the Police Service in that financial year.This comprised an
inappropriate excess expenditure on CTA vehicle charges worth E6 557 492.65
under the Traffic Section; inappropriate excess expenditure on personnel costs
amounting to E55 774 628.20 under various responsibility centres; inappropriate
excess expenditure on travel, transport and communication amounting to E4
379.90; and inappropriate excess expenditure on professional and special
services amounting to E1 027.29 under the Hhohho General Police.
During the session, the members of the PAC raised concerns about the
over-expenditure on CTA charges. The members of Parliament (MPs) said what
puzzled them the most was that almost all police stations in the country have an
acute shortage of motor vehicles, hence they failed to understand where the
over-expenditure was coming from. The MPs said what was significantly noted was
that a lot of resources were seen splashed towards running the police soccer
team, Leopard. The PAC said the resources that were running the team were direct
from the taxpayer and that was unfair to emaSwati because service delivery
should be prioritised and the team should be run with its own resources not
drain the taxpayers.
Resources
Dvokodvweni MP Sifiso Shabalala, asked which resources were used to run the
Royal Leopard football team. “I can see the over expenditure of CTA charged
and traffic because there are also complaints that the service does not have
cars. Which cars are causing the over-expenditure because not all police
stations have cars. We see Royal Leopard using the same resources that should be
used to serve the nation. Is royal leopard using the fuel and resources that
should be serving the nation, which has led to the expenditure?” asked the MP.
He also asked if there were controls in place to ensure that the team was not
draining the budget that should be used for service delivery.
The PAC Vice Chairperson and Nhlambeni MP, Manzi Zwane, said he was equally
concerned about the taxpayer’s money that was splashed on running Royal
Leopard. “We know about the team but we have a problem with the use of
resources funded by the taxpayer and that drains the government purse. Royal
Leopard shouldn’t use State resources, but use their own resources just like
other teams in the Premier league of Eswatini (PLE). Hire buses, do not use the
police buses because those are serviced by the taxpayer,” he said.
Zwane said the use of resources funded by the taxpayer has created enemies for
the team especially people who were not able to get services from the police
because of fuel transport unavailability, which was easily attributed to
resources being allocated to the team rather than the public. The vice
chairperson told the REPS Controlling Officer, Acting Commissioner General
(NATCOM), Lydia Dlamini, that they were not attacking her as they also raised
the same concerns with the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force (UEDF) and they would
also raise it when His Majesty Correctional Services appear before the PAC.
Meet
In response, the controlling officer told the PAC that they would meet as a
service and look at how the matter could be addressed. “We will relook at the
matter as an office to avoid it not to use government resources,” she said.
Dlamini added that inasmuch as they had few vehicles the expenditure was high
because their vehicles work throughout the day used by different shifts. 
“Their repair costs are too high because they do not rest. Garages charge us a
lot,” she said.
The Acting NATCOM also stated that in the 2023 financial year, government
granted a three per cent cost-of-living adjustment and one per cent once-off
payment of their annual salary. There was also an issue that dated back to 2014
of salary restructuring of circular no.2 of 2014 that was not implemented for
junior officers. Since the matter was shifted to salary review, they were given
a four per cent cushion from Superintendent to constable. This led to the
over-expenditure in personnel costs.
Dissatisfaction
After the response, Dvokodvweni MP registered his dissatisfaction with
Dlamini’s response. He mentioned that Dlamini was responding as the concern
was new. He said they needed a time frame in terms of addressing the issue.
“Please give us a time frame for producing detailed resources of the state
resources used by Leopard. I am disappointed with the way the controlling
officer is addressing the issue as if it was new,” he said. The MP highlighted
that during the unrest police vehicles and buses were targeted even during the
soccer activities because people were angry seeing their taxes being used on
football while police could not attend to crime scenes. Dlamini asked for a
month to produce a detailed report of the football team’s spending to the PAC.