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MZUTHINI’S FORMER COMPANY LINKED TO YOUTH FUND LOOTING

31/03/2019 00:48:00 BY WELCOME DLAMINI

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MBABANE – His Majesty’s Correctional Services Commissioner General Isaiah Mzuthini Ntshangase is linked to the company that benefitted the most during the looting of the Youth Enterprise Fund.

Investigations by the Times SUNDAY have revealed that the name of Ntshangase was once registered as a shareholder of this company - Classic World Investments PTY LTD, trading as Classic World Stationery.
The company’s dealings with the Youth Enterprise Fund were unearthed by former Auditor General Phestecia Nxumalo during a forensic investigation carried out in 2015.

The company was paid around E340 000 through what was viewed by Nxumalo as ‘manipulation of procurement rules and thresholds’.
An ‘unusually close association’ was found to have existed between the company and the fund.

Documents seen by this publication show that Ntshangase, who is Commissioner General of His Majesty’s Correctional Services, was registered as a shareholder in July 2005 alongside one Lomasontfo Zwakele Mazibuko.

His occupation in the document is entered as ‘businessman’ while that of Mazibuko is classified as ‘businesswoman’.

admitted his relationship

Ntshangase admitted his relationship with this company and said he was trying to earn a living when he became shareholder of the entity.
At first though, the commissioner general said: “I do not have any relationship with that company, I don’t even know what it is”.
He wondered why he was being associated with a company he did not even know of.

He asked what the name of the company was and when told it was Classic World Investments, he said they probably included him as a shareholder “because they love me as there is not even one company I’ve ever been a shareholder in; not even a single one”.

However, he then changed tune when asked if he did not know a person by the name of Zwakele Lomasontfo Mazibuko with whom he appears as a shareholder of the company.

“I know that person. If that’s the company you are talking about, I long removed myself from it; long time ago. I was trying to make ends meet when I joined that company, but that was a long, long time ago. I was co-director but the company was a non-starter and it did not get any business. I then decided to exit the company,” Ntshangase said.

He said he did not remember when he quit the company, but estimated the period to be between 2002 and 2004.
It was then brought to his attention that the documents seen by this publication showed that he was registered as shareholder in 2005.

The company was registered and incorporated in terms of the Swaziland Companies Act No.7 of 1912 as from 26 July 2005.
“I think it was the woman who decided to include my name in there,” he said. This is despite that a signature purported to be his was appended next to his name.

outstanding taxes

“I quit that company because I was coming across problems whenever I visited the Eswatini Revenue Authority (SRA). They would tell me that I had outstanding taxes each time I went there and I would tell them that I was no longer a part of the company,” he said, stating that he then quit in order to have his name in the good books of the tax authorities.

He said he even wrote a resignation letter to signify that he no longer wanted to be associated with the company.
This publication has not had access or seen Ntshangase’s resignation letter. “I might not remember when I wrote the resignation letter because this happened a long time ago and it is no longer in my mind as I’m not interested in it,” said the commissioner.

Ntshangase said the tax authorities were aware of him having resigned from the company.
Even though he said he knew that the company dealt in stationery material, he was, however, blank as to what business dealings it was involved in, including that it had won many tenders with the Youth Enterprise Fund.

He also said he did not invest a single cent in the company despite having been a shareholder at some stage.
Should it happen that Ntshangase was still involved with the company at the time it won the tenders with the Fund or any other public institutions, then that would be a violation of the Public Procurement Act.

Section 60 (2) of the Act states: “Public officers and politicians shall not participate as tenderers in public procurement”.
The participation of public officials in public procurement is something that has become a tendency despite several warnings from government.

As recent as January 16 this year, government issued Circular No 1 of 2019 through which it noted with great concern that public officers continued to participate in public entities’ tenders much against the provisions of the Act.

A public officer is defined as any officer employed in the public service, including in procuring entities, requesting entities, the Swaziland Public Procurement Regulatory Agency and Tender Boards.

Circular warning

The Circular warned that the agency would closely monitor adherence to this instruction and failure to adhere to this provision of the Act could result to suspension of the tenderer.

Meanwhile, the Times SUNDAY has learnt that at some other stage, Classic World Stationery company had another director by the name of Zandile Hypecia Dlamini alongside Mazibuko.

However, Dlamini also resigned through a letter she wrote on November 22, 2016.
“This letter serves to inform you that Zandile Hypecia Dlamini have (SIC) resigned from being a director in our company. We now have Zwakele Lomasontfo Mazibuko, sole shareholder for the company,” reads a letter from Mazibuko that notified the Registrar of Companies of the changes.

The offices of Classic World Stationery could not be located even though they are registered in the Registrar of Companies as well as the 2019 Eswatini Telecommunications Directory as being at Sigwaca House in Mbabane.
However, the company was not found at Sigwaca House despite the presence of a sign in the building.

The 2018 directory listed the company’s offices as being located at the Corporate Place in Mbabane but they are no longer there.
In her report, Nxumalo – the former auditor general - noted that the ‘unusually close association’ between Classic World and the Fund had resulted in the latter suffering huge financial loss.