PS CALLED SIGEBENGU AT PAC SITTING

LOBAMBA - It was an emotional start to the first sitting of the PAC as Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy Winnie Stewart did not take kindly to some of the statements directed at her.

PAC is the Public Accounts Committee.
This was after Mangcongco Member of Parliament (MP) Oneboy Zikalala accused the PS of being a thug (sigebengu).
Although the PAC Chairperson Phila Buthelezi had asked MP Zikalala to withdraw his statement, which he did, this was not satisfactory to the PS as she took exception to being branded as someone who was engaged in illegal practices.

Debate

This was during the debate of the ministry’s audit query of how the ministry spent about an unaccounted for E365 000 under the Water Aid Fund.  At first, the PS said the major reason that their accounts were not in order was because for about three and a half years, the ministry did not have a principal accountant, who had been suspended after allegedly being involved in questionable activities.

Stewart told the PAC that despite the fact that they did not have a principal accountant, they had managed to get the supporting documentation which would explain the expenditure.

She said they had found all the receipts and proceeded to distribute the copies among the members of the PAC.
This was when all hell broke loose as Mangcongo MP said this was a clear insult to the PAC as the ministry had gone and just manufactured receipts which they presented to the PAC.

The PAC noted that the alleged supporting documents did not have attachments of workshop or meeting attendance forms with signatures of the attendees, including original receipts.

“Cash register slips were obviously manufactured here and this definitely does not look authentic,” said MP Zikalala.
He was supported by Manzini Region MP Busisiwe Mavimbela, who said it was clear that the receipts were not authentic because they were to the exact missing figure yet the till slips had not been found for about two years.

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