SIKHUPHE RESIDENTS DEMAND E80M COMPENSATION

MBABANE – One of Swaziland’s most celebrated projects in the turn of the millennium – the King Mswati III International Airport – has brought nothing but misery to hundreds of residents of Sikhuphe, in Malindza, where the airfield was constructed.

To this date, the residents have not received any cent for their relocation despite a consultant’s recommendation that a sum of E73 million be allocated for the resettlement of 188 homesteads that fell within the airport city boundary. As a result, about 250 homesteads of Malindza have since sought the services of Mbabane-based lawyer Bongani Mdluli of Bongani G. Mdluli & Associates to demand total compensation of the sum of E80 million from the Swaziland Civil Aviation Authority (SWACAA).

While the sounds and colourful display of firecrackers filled the skies of the rural area during the airport’s launch by His Majesty King Mswati III on March 7, 2014, the hundreds of residents had little to celebrate because the multi-million project resulted in them being resettled without the promised compensation. Mdluli has now written a letter, which the Times SUNDAY has seen, to SWACAA Director General Solomon Dube, demanding payment of the E80m.

Recalling the residents’ plight, Mdluli narrated in the letter that ever since commencement of the project in 2001, the residents have had several meetings with SWACAA , in particular one on May 28, 2015 at Malindza chiefdom where SWACAA made an unequivocal undertaking that it was intending to review the 2001/2002 Sikhuphe Resettlement Plan Report.

The report had reportedly commenced during the implementation of the Sikhuphe International Airport development. In that meeting, SWACAA is said to have been represented by Project Planner Fikisile Dlamini, Assistant Project Planner Wandile Dlamini and Project Engineer B. Khilinyawo.

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