SENIOR SOLDIER FIRED OVER RECRUITMENT CORRUPTION

 MBABANE – Following the Commission of Inquiry into the 2017 army recruitment exercise, a senior soldier has been dismissed from work.

Colonel Jeffery Sipho Simelane, who was one of the senior army personnel responsible for the recruitment exercise, was dismissed by Army Commander Sobantu Dlamini. This was after the commission found that there was a lot of corruption by senior army officials who were mandated to conduct the exercise.
Simelane is one of the senior army personnel who were recalled by His Majesty after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 60. 

His new contract was for a period of three years and it was to end on August 18, 2019.  He had served the army for 40 years. After the conclusion of the enquiry where Colonel Simelane was fingered, the army commander deemed it fit to terminate his three-year contract. Some of the recruits who were illegally recruited informed the commission that they were assisted by Simelane.

“You are hereby informed that your contract of employment from (sic) the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force has been terminated,” reads part of the letter signed by the army commander.

Simelane and the other senior official were assigned to conduct recruitment in areas known as emahambate. Emahambate are areas under Swazi Nation Land which have no chiefs and which are directly under the control of His Majesty King Mswati III.

It was found that instead of conducting the recruitment exercise as per the order of the Commander-in- Chief (His Majesty King Mswati III), Simelane and the other senior officials allegedly decided to recruit their relatives and ignored the eligible candidates.
In May last year, it was reported that about 60 army recruits were shown the exit door from the Umbutfo Eswatini  Defence Force (UEDF) Infantry School in Mbuluzi.

The army commander mentioned that following an outcry from the public and from Members of Parliament (MPs) concerning the irregularities in the recruitment exercise, he then established a Commission of inquiry into the recruitment.

Irregularities

The commission of inquiry comprised Lieutenant General Tsembeni Magongo, who was the chairperson, Major General Moses Fakudze (member) and Captain Thokozane Dlamini who was the secretary. Its terms of reference were: to investigate any irregularities in the 2017 recruitment process in particular Tinkhundla Centres and Chiefdoms; to find out whether or not all those who were announced to have qualified at their Tinkhundla centres were eventually called to undergo medical examination; to hear and consider the medical results of those who were called to undergo medical examination; to find out whether or not those who failed the medical test were replaced by candidates from the same constituencies; find out, all those who were involved in the irregularities and also advise and make recommendations to the UEDF commander based on its finding arising from the submission.

 Enlisted

The commission was also mandated to find out if those who qualified both at Tinkhundla and at Phocweni Defence Clinic were finally enlisted
The army commander stated that when the Commander-in-Chief commissioned the recruitment, he also gave directions as to how the recruitment should be conducted.

He said during the 2017 recruitment, the Commander-in-Chief had directed that the recruitment should be from chiefdoms including areas known as emahambate, Tinkhundla Centre’s and from regiments.

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