ANGRY MPS ORDER DPM TO FETCH ‘SICK’ OWEN

LOBAMBA – “What you say today shall haunt you tomorrow.”Minister of Public Service Owen Nxumalo might learn this adage the hard way after words he allegedly uttered turned him into an enemy of Members of Parliament (MPs) yesterday.

This was after he failed to show up for yesterday’s sitting, and the MPs alleged that he had done so intentionally as he had bragged about it earlier.

Nxumalo’s presence was critical in yesterday’s sitting, as he was expected to table a ministerial statement detailing reasons why he allegedly stopped the FSRA probe into the affairs of the Public Service Pension Fund (PSPF).

Chaos started when Speaker Themba Msibi informed the House that he had received communication to the effect that Nxumalo was not well and in hospital.

delivering

After delivering the message, MPs stood up in their numbers to allege that it was a lie that Nxumalo was not well.
This, they said, was because some of them had seen him the previous night at one of the glitzy events held around Ezulwini.
Others said they had actually been with him at a government event held at the Sibane Hotel a few hours before the sitting.

“The nation is confused because of the PSPF issue and what you have told us now is disappointing. We were with him last night (Tuesday) until around 10pm. When did he suddenly fall sick?” asked MP Saladin Magagula.
Matsanjeni North MP Phila Buthelezi stood up to submit and that Nxumalo was not in any hospital but had snubbed the sitting intentionally.

Buthelezi alleged that the minister had said it himself that MPs were not going to receive a statement from him.
“He was talking while next to me that he will not come.

I asked him if he was going to send a sick note, and he responded to the affirmative. And that is exactly what he has done. Just a few weeks ago, when the Anti-Corruption Commission probe was being conducted, a minister pulled the same stunt and reported sick,” submitted Buthelezi.

uttering

Msibi tried to reason with the MPs saying he did not hear Nxumalo uttering such words that he was not going to present the said statement.
Nkwene MP Sikhumbuzo Dlamini stood up and objected to what the speaker was saying and demanded that the police should be sent to fetch the minister as he had proved that he did not respect Parliament.

“Akalandvwe,” Dlamini said, which means, “He must be fetched.”
The Nkwene MP moved that the Deputy Prime Minister, Paul Dlamini, should use his authority of standing in for the Prime Minister, Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini, and issue a directive to the police to go and fetch the minister.

Motjane MP Phesheya Hlatshwayo stood up to support his colleagues, saying he was also aware that the minister had bragged that he would not present the statement.

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