Home | News | MINISTER’S WIFE, RELATIVES’ ASSOCIATION RECEIVES E1.3M

MINISTER’S WIFE, RELATIVES’ ASSOCIATION RECEIVES E1.3M

22/04/2018 07:43:00 BY BHEKISISA MAGONGO

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MBABANE – Is it a cakewalk to funding for a minister’s wife’s entity Siyagijima Association at Ngudzeni?

At least this is the feeling expressed by a section of disgruntled individuals from the constituency, whose MP is Minister of Informational, Communication and Technology (ICT) Dumisani Christopher Ndlangamandla.
The association, which has a couple of Ndlangamandla members among its 25 membership, is reportedly on the verge of being awarded a E1.1 million funding for the purchase of a TLB excavator from the Regional Development Fund (RDF) to complete a brace of major financial assistance in the past two financial years.

The association is said to be so far, in the past years, the only benefactor from the income generating category of the RDF in the constituency.
Government first allocated E80 million for the 55 Tinkhundla Centres for the RDF. Each region received E20 million.

There are 12 constituencies in the Shiselweni region and Ngudzeni is one of them. This means that each of the 12 constituencies have received at least E7 million in the past five years.
This comes after Siyagijima Association had allegedly received E1.3 million for a truck that was allegedly further sub-contracted to Inyatsi Construction. And for the project, they were able to allegedly raise the E130 000 which was the 10 per cent deposit for the project.

If the E1.1 million TLB funding is approved, the association’s total benefit could be E2.4 million.
The application for the TLB excavator has passed the first phase at the constituency level and is now at the regional level, where further scrutiny would be applied before the application could be finally endorsed.
The fund is accessible to all associations in all 55 constituencies but, recipients should apply, have their application vetoed before being approved.

Siyagijima is one of the associations under Ngudzeni Inkhundla, and it has 25 members, who include the wife of the constituency’s Member of Parliament (MP), who doubles as the Minister of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) Ndlangamandla, his son and the politician’s elder brother, among others.

STRUGGLING

However, there are constituency members whose associations struggled to get a share of the RDF because they were unable to raise the mandatory 10 per cent cash deposit required for the intended project and are grumbling over the decision to give Siyagijima the lion’s share of the fund.

They alleged that their dominance stemmed from the fact that the majority of their members were civil servants, who included the minister’s wife, a teacher by profession.
“Others are soldiers, warders and teachers. And they easily raise the mandatory 10 per cent payable upfront for any project they have proposed to do. This is why most of their applications are considered,” one disgruntled community member said.

They also alleged the fact that since most of the members of the association were allegedly related to the MP it made it easier for their applications to be considered, even when certain requirements stipulated in the RDF were allegedly not met.
“The law is clear that any association should have set up an office in the area before they can get funding for a project. Siyagijima has won both applications without having set up an office in the area,” alleged the member.
However, it should be stated that the RDF clause states that associations should have secured land first before their applications could be approved by the Constituency Development Committee.

Furthermore, it was alleged Siyagijima had been promised a piece of land to set up their offices by the Inner Council, according to the constituency Headman Raymond Mahlwayizela Ngcamphalala. He also confirmed that the association has had both proposals; for the truck and excavator/TLB approved, but on merit.

He said they always had the edge over others because they had the money to pay the 10 per cent deposit for each of the projects, which other associations found cumbersome.
“There are 25 members of the association and among them is the minister’s wife. But the members come from two chiefdoms; Endushulweni and Phobane. The procedure was followed in all the applications, which also go to the Regional Offices,” he said.

Ngcamphalala assured that everything was done above board, but noted that a majority of individuals were justified in complaining about the mandatory 10 per cent deposit, which put most of the unemployed at a disadvantage. “I know that the truck is sub-contracted to Inyatsi and I have personally seen it around Sikhuphe,” Ngcamphalala said.

TAKE LOANS

When contacted, minister Ndlangamandla said there was plenty of funding to be exploited from the RDF, but the challenge was that most associations were failing to pay the 10 per cent deposit which was an essential element for consideration when approvals were made for any application.

He said in the 2015/16 financial, the constituency received E1.5 million, where he said the E1.3 million for the Siyagijima Association truck was sourced.
The current financial year saw the constituency getting E1.9 million.
“While we have issued a couple of funding for infrastructural projects like electricity schemes worth E2 million in the past, there has been one benefactor from the income generating category and it was the E1.3 million truck for Siyagijima.

“There was one application for an association that wanted funding to purchase a tent for rental purposes, but they could not raise the E5 000, which is the 10 per cent of the total cost of the tent,” he said.
Commenting on allegations that most members of Siyagijima were his relatives, he said there were about four from his family. “My wife is there and so is my first born son, Thabo, but there are plenty other individuals who are benefiting from it. They have secured a contract with Inyatsi, which is key in uplifting their lives.

“What other people are failing to understand is that members of Siyagijima are prepared to take loans to be able to raise the needed 10 per cent. I would advise others to follow suit and approach saving schemes at Ngudzeni, that loan out money to individuals,” he said.

The MP said it was worrying that most people opted to speak or complain behind the back of the constituency structures, where solutions for whatever challenges encountered could be sought. “It might be that some are beginning to campaign and de-campaign others because no one has come to me to seek assistance on how they can raise the 10 per cent because it is mandatory.
“We cannot bend the law because that is what caused challenges in the fund in the past. I would advise those who have complaints to approach the rightful structures than to run to the media, because they won’t find solutions there,” he said.
A member of Siyagijima association Mduduzi Ndlangamandla, though confirming his membership with the association, referred all comments regarding the association to the chairman, Derrick Mkhaliphi.
The latter did not pick up his cell phone when called.

The minister’s wife Phindile could only confirm that she was just like all willing residents of the constituency and she was a member of the association alongside three other family members from the 25 to complete the organisation. “I cannot be left out on an opportunity to develop myself, unless people expect me to wait for 2019,” she said briefly.

CONCERN
Meanwhile, chairperson of the constituency development committee Mphikeleli Wilson Ngcamphalala said they had noted that only one association was benefitting and that most of its members were relatives of the MP and minister.
“They have secured the funding for the TLB after also getting one for the truck. However, we are also concerned about this and we need to consider the concerns raised by some of the associations,” he said.
He said the issue of the 10 per cent deposit needed for one to secure funding was inhibiting most disadvantaged individuals, who though might have brilliant business proposals, could still not qualify to get financial assistance.
He said the MP, who is also the ICT minister, had not been involved in the whole Siyagijima Association saga, even though most of the members were allegedly either his relatives or brethren in church.
The rural development fund was established in 1999 by the King but was legalised in 2000 through the promulgation of the Legal Notice number 101, to alleviate and eventually eradicate poverty in all the four regions of Swaziland.
At inception, the fund was first administered under the Deputy Prime Minister’s office, but after 2008 it was then moved to the Ministry of Tinkhundla Administration and Development, which oversees the management of the fund, whereby the allocation of the fund is made to associations in the different constituencies.