MP Esther takes a swipe at Minister Lindiwe

MBABANE— Deputy Speaker Esther Dlamini has accused Minister of Housing and Local Government Pastor Lindiwe Dlamini of betraying the trust of the people of Mbabane by playing double standards in the issue of rates.

Speaking in her capacity as MP for Mbabane East, Dlamini said the minister had seemingly stabbed them in the back and pathetically reneged on her promise to address the issue of ratepayers holistically.

Instead, the deputy speaker said the minister decided to agree with the misguided and heartless councillors of the Mbabane City Council to continue with the auction of properties for the underprivileged.

She said the minister should have set up a team to investigate circumstances that led to the sale of the houses because their investigation unearthed that deputy sheriffs had interests in the houses they were attaching as instructed by the city council’s attorneys.

MP Dlamini said there was a high level of corruption at the Mbabane City Council as people who owed a meagre E2 000 or E3 000 were being ruthlessly evicted from their mansions. She said the minister should have, at least, inspected the houses for the underprivileged or allowed ratepayers and concerned parties like the MPs in the surrounding areas to present a report on their findings before she legitimised the continuation of the public auction.

Mincing no words, the honourable MP for Mbabane East charged that Minister Pastor Dlamini claimed her diary was packed each time she wanted to see her. "Now, she talks another language. She is on record to have told the public that she has stopped the auction so that concerned parties could meet and forge a way forward. We have never met the city council over the matter. We have evidence that some people who have been religiously paying rates had their houses sold. We wanted to expose this scandal but how do we expose it because the minister does not want us to meet her," bitterly complained the deputy speaker who went on to lash out at the minister for inconsistency and double standard playing in a matter that touched the lives of Swazis.

She said the amendment of the Rating Act was long over due. She wondered how the minister could table the amendment of the Rating Act before parliament because she had not met the affected people and had not investigated the matter to ascertain the true picture.

The housing minister told Times SUNDAY that Mbabane City Council Mayor Sikhatsi Dlamini assured her that they had met all the affected parties. The minister said she had not cancelled the public auction but had suspended it pending negotiations for a better settlement of the monies owed to the municipal council of Mbabane. She said she was happy to note that some people made arrangements to pay but others could not do so, hence, the city council would definitely attach properties for those people. The minister said the issue of orphaned and vulnerable children who inherited the ownership of the houses from their parents would be addressed separately, adding that the issue of the elderly people would also be addressed. She did not state how they would address it and when she would address it because the mayor indicated that the auction could be conducted very soon.

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