GOVT’S E0.5BN PROPERTY GUARDED WITH SAGILA

MBABANE - Safekeeping measures are so lax at the Central Transport Administration (CTA) to a point that security guards literally arm themselves with a knobkerrie (sagila) to protect the government property worth over E0.5 billion.
Fencing around the government department is porous, while there is hardly any foolproof shop-guard to monitor internal controls of inventory.

The laxity in security measures is an acid test to a statement made by Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini, that government had opted not to buy new cars but to repair the existing fleet this year at the CTA.
On several instances, the CTA has been taken advantage of by cunning thieves and unscrupulous workers, who plundered car parts and siphoned fuel in a process dubbed incence. The latest incident was reported last year whereby two men illegally entered the premises and stole car parts valued at over E150 000.

CTA General Manager Washington Khumalo said lack of a sound security system was taking its toll as theft of car parts was rife.
“Government must install a sound security system there to guard against the theft of car parts. The parameters of the CTA are a shambles and have not been repaired for a long time because they always tell us we will be moving to other premises. No one who has such high value assets would allow his premises to lie unprotected like that. We have asked for a wall fence that is combined with an electric fence but this has not been forthcoming,” Khumalo said.

He said the response they received from government was positive, but implementation became impossible.

Surveillance

“They had said we can look for a private security company, which would be liable for any loss. We tried to get something like that but when they arrived on the premises, they asked what we wanted them to guard against because there is unattended security, which would be a problem in terms of surveillance and bio-security systems. We wanted a biometric system which allows only the employee to get in for accountability sake,” he said.

Khumalo said the CTA aspired to be accredited by the manufacturers of cars and car parts so that the parastatal could access special service tools and software. He said they wanted workers to be trained to even do online diagnosis.
He said some of the theft was perpetrated by people who pretended to have interest in buying cars during auctions.

“It is no problem for people to buy a shell (the body) of a car only, knowing very well they will come back to the CTA to steal parts,” he said.
He said there were instances where job-cards were rehashed, meaning one order gets two or three of the same car parts, but there was no credible system to nip-in-the-bud such illegal activity.  “The security at the gate, at times, is swarmed with work, which results in long queues of cars on their way out and eventually neglects to search each and every car. He just notes the registration number and lets the car out.

“As we speak now, someone is guarding the premises armed with a knobkerrie, and those assets are worth over E500 million.”
Khumalo appealed to the authorities in government to pay a visit to the CTA and see for themselves the poor state of security infrastructure.

He said authorities were quick to point fingers of accusation towards the CTA when property got lost, but no one spared time to pay attention to the state of affairs of the institution.
The CTA has two night watchmen who carry traditional weapons (tagila), while manning two main entrance points.

Minister of Public Works and Transport Chief Ndlaluhlaza Ndwandwe, said the issue of CTA security was a priority in the ministry’s plans.
“Even though we are speaking about transformation, that does not mean we have to let the CTA depreciate because there are people and property there. We have started talks with the authorities at the CTA with a view to come up with a lasting solution to the challenges faced by the institution,” he said.

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