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MINISTER PUTS HIS POLITICAL JOB AT RISK?

09/06/2019 00:41:00 BY SUNDAY REPORTER

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MBABANE – Skating on thin ice! Minister of Agriculture Jabulani Clement Mabuza’s vast ownership of a company that trades with a public body, the Municipal Council of Mbabane, could come back to haunt him in future.

Legal experts said they wished they were with the minister to advise him to step down or appoint someone to represent him at Blue Diamond, a company that signed a three-year contract with the local government to run an abattoir facility at a monthly rental of E5 000.

“I feel sorry for him because he’s a man of integrity and staunch Christian.
“He hates corruption with all his heart, he’s a family man and he became a director of Blue Diamond with good intentions. However, the law may be harsh on him if interpreted otherwise,” a seasoned attorney said.

acts that lead to corruption

Section 27 of the Prevention of Corruption Act of 2006 and the Constitution of the Kingdom of Eswatini both put stringent measures for people to avoid acts that could lead them to corruption.

Reads the section: “A member or an employee of a public body commits an offence of corruption where that member or employee or an immediate member of the family of that member or employee has a direct and indirect interest in any company or undertaking with which that public body proposes to deal, or that member or employee has a personal interest in any decision which that public body is to make, and that member or employee, knowingly fails to disclose the nature of that interest, or votes or participates in the proceedings of that public body relating to that dealing or decision.”

What is public body?

Section 2 (a) (b) defines public body as ‘any government ministry or department or parastatal or any other functionary or institution or traditional council (libandla) when exercising a power or performing a duty or function in terms of the Constitution or any other law or custom’.

However, Mabuza, in a brief interview as he was out of the country, said he was aware that he was treading on thin ice as per the Constitution in particular.
His company conducts its abattoir business at the Mbabane Industrial Site.

The facility belongs to the Municipal Council of Mbabane, which is defined as a local government – an extension of the Government of Eswatini.
Mabuza is the majority shareholder at Blue Diamond. His company slaughters cattle for clients, and also sells meat.
He said government was not the only customer which Blue Diamond could service. The minister said he was aware of the constitutional clauses, which made him skate on thin ice.

“We are not selling to government, and government is not the only customer,” he said.

previous interview

Meanwhile, in a previous interview, Mabuza had said he was not aware that Blue Diamond Trading was advised by his ex-colleague (Phiwayinkhosi Mabuza) to come to him for help.

He said he joined the company after it had already entered into a contract with the Municipal Council of Mbabane. Due to his busy schedule, he explained that he delegated a certain Mkhonta to represent his business interests in the company.

“I am not fully involved in the day to day business of Blue Diamond. I have a representative there who updates me on how the business is doing,” said the minister.

He reiterated what he said in 2018 that Blue Diamond approached him after they had failed to find funding.
“They didn’t have financial muscle,” he said.

He said he joined the company from a business perspective after pumping a lot of money into its operations.
Another legal source said it was true that the minister’s company was not expected to sell meat to government or albeit Cabinet because such act could be viewed as tantamount to conflict of interest in terms of the Constitution.

City and town councils are referred to as ‘local government’. He said the company’s doing business with the public body could raise serious questions for him to answer.

Meanwhile, Section 240 of the Constitution provides that a person who holds a public office shall not assume a position where personal interest conflicts or is likely to conflict with the performance of functions of office.

It further says that the public officer, inclusive of the ministers, shall not engage in conduct that is likely to compromise the honesty, impartiality and integrity of that office or likely to lead to corruption in public affairs or which is detrimental to the public good, welfare or good governance.

The experts said even Section 97 of the Constitution as read with Section 27 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, if interpreted broadly, could be used to call upon the minister to answer.

In fact, this constitutional section puts it clearly that a person does not qualify to be appointed, elected or nominated as the case may be, a senator or member of the House if he is a party to or is a partner in a firm or director/manager of a company which is a party to any subsisting government contract and has not made the required disclosure.

However, the experts said the minister’s argument could be that the Municipal Council of Mbabane is not the government he is working for, while others may say it (municipality) is an extension of government – a public body as defined by the Prevention of Corruption Act.

“In terms of the Constitution, it can be 50-50 situation, depending on the motive behind the interpretation of the law. His company does business with government’s agency – the City Council of Mbabane, which is wholly owned by government,” said the seasoned attorney.

contract with government
According to the Constitution, a government contract means any contract with the government for or on any account of the public service the consideration for which exceeds E5 000 or such other amount as Parliament may prescribe or which forms part of a larger transaction or series of transactions in respect of which the amount or value or the aggregate amount or value of the transaction exceeds E5 000. d of directors.”