SMVA’S WALLS CAVING IN

Sir,

After businessman Walter Bennett and company stopped the SMVA Consultative exercise a few weeks ago, one would have thought that the executive, which was absent because of the workers’ strike, which began on the same day, heard the message loud and clear that the whole exercise must start afresh because the masses did not get ample time to prepare.

The few in Manzini spoke for the whole of Swaziland and yours truly was there to voice his concerns. I left thinking the whole exercise was suspended indefinitely that day but lo and behold the exercise is said to have continued in Mankayane, which looked like the last town to be visited. One wonders if Mankayane formed the relevant all-inclusive quorum which Manzini failed to produce, or could it be that Mankayane is not privy to the resolution taken on their behalf in Manzini?

We believed the absent Board to be answering us in good faith when their attorney consulted them after we berated him. Through him they acknowledged the concerns and the requests raised thereof and we understood them to be admitting an oversight on their part.

We waited for a press release confirming such but to no avail. Is this then defiance by MVA’s executive and are we possibly witnessing a calculated mad rush to table this to the Clerk to Parliament and through Parliament straight to the King for assent? Remember, once gazetted unopposed after 14 days the Act will become law. We hope Parliament will chuck it out.

  Nevertheless taking a bird’s eye view over the 1991 MVA Act, the 2011 and 2017 amendments which are ambiguous and evasive you begin to understand why people are angry and want a day of reckoning pitting SMVA’s executive versus the multitudes of accident victims who feel hard done. The fund is suspected to be protecting its investments regionally and offshore instead of bringing meaningful relief to accident victims. This on the backdrop of requesting immunity from declaring interests accrued from investments as profits - can you believe that? You understand, therefore, the insinuations that victims are forced to smoke dagga instead of the compensation peace pipe when they file their laborious claims which take forever to process.

MVA has been the referee, player and defender for far too long and people are fed up. The Board’s powers are untamed it seems.
Donations to soccer tourneys and Sibhaca are quick to be made but no equipment donated to hospitals and rehab centres. From what I heard I could dare MVA to parade even one happy post accident victim against the seething small fraction of victims who represented the masses that day. Just peruse through some of the Act’s clauses in Section 10 and 11 - amended or not, and be surprised. Who was with the Board members when they came up with these inconsiderate figures and clauses and do they ever take a leaf from their counterparts in South Africa who have no meagre E1million limit? We want to be at par with SA when it comes to VAT benefits but not when accident victims must be genuinely helped. You wonder if the Board constitutes relevant stakeholders; baphi baka transport who are huge stakeholders by way of guzzling gazillion litres of fuel which translates to an immaculate levy.

They are responsible for ferrying our human workforce resource that gets a meagre E50 000 regardless of the extent of injuries and loss of income etc. What about associations which deal with post occurrences like Epilepsy and incidental cases etc? As if that was not enough, I must get up from being knocked down by a vehicle and remember everything about the car etc, otherwise my claim is disputed.

If I go to rehab and medicals or if legal opinion is sought those expenses are deducted from my final package even though I did not institute legal action. If monies are invested on behalf of a minor, at age 18 when pay comes no interest or inflation is considered and if the minor dies before age 18 all monies revert to the fund! There are imbedded invasive clauses against family members’ claims and workers who claim and fault clauses blaming me for a drunk driver and a faulty vehicle and unlawful possession whether the fault caused the accident or I knew about unlawful possession or not. There is no investment advice or help to start a business and loss of income has a E350 000 limit despite age etc. Nonetheless whether the day of reckoning will come or not, one thing is for sure, the executive’s hibernation walls are caving in.

WaSphangasenkunzi

NOTE: In an effort to afford them the right to reply, this letter was emailed to SMVA on March 15, 2018 and when a follow-up call was made, the company said it would not respond.

Ed

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