GOVT HIRES CARS, 20 HEADS OF STATE NO-SHOW

MBABANE – Government was dealt a heavy blow during preparations for the launch of the eTrade regional office early this month, when it experienced last minute withdrawals by VIPs.

After at least 20 Heads of State (sitting presidents and prime ministers) had initially accepted invitations to be part of the historic event, government went all out to ensure that these very important people would receive dignified treatment once they arrived in the kingdom.
These included hiring executive vehicles from car rental companies.

Some of the heads of state that had been invited and had indicated their attendance comprised Zambia’s President Lungu and Guinea President Alpha Condé, while Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta had indicated he would send a representative in the form of Raila Odinga, Kenya’s former Prime Minister.
The Africa eTrade regional office was launched by His Majesty King Mswati III at Mandvulo Grand Hall on the Friday of October 4, 2019.
The only notable VIPs were Former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and Chief Executive Officer of the Africa eTrade Group, Mulualem Syoum.

Minister of Commerce Industry and Trade Manqoba Khumalo, under whose portfolio the launch was held, said they were disappointed by the withdrawal of the heads of state.

“Yes we were disappointed at the turnout of the heads of state because until the Wednesday (October 2, 2019) there were quite a number of those who had indicated their coming,” the minister said.

Khumalo said because the confirmations and withdrawals were coming in late, they did not know who was coming and who was not, hence they hired executive motor vehicles that ended up not being used.

The minister confirmed that 20 heads of state had been invited but those that either eventually arrived or sent representatives were five.

five send representatives

“So when preparing we were working on that assumption because when they got the invites, most of them were saying they would be coming and we would start preparing. But then they cancelled last minute,” said the minister.

It has been ascertained that Zambia had indicated that they would be sending an advance party that was expected to arrive on October 3.
However, they reportedly kept the locals waiting until Thursday afternoon when they sent word that they were no longer coming.
What has also been gathered is that Guinea’s President Condé had accepted the invite when he met with His Majesty during the 2019 United Nations General Assembly in New York, USA.

But, he is said to have had an extended stay in New York and when he returned to Guinea it was impossible to make it to the e-Trade launch.
Khumalo said they got to know on the Thursday that President Condé would no longer be attending the event.

“Basically, those that managed to send representatives were only five, including the former prime minister of Ethiopia. The rest did not make it. There were other dignitaries who were at ministerial level and we were giving them the courtesy we normally give to guests who are at that level,” he said.

The minister further stated: “For the heads of state we had prepared 18 vehicles and by the Wednesday, we decided to work on the five because we had indications that these were the ones to possibly attend the launch. So that’s what happened.”
It has not been gathered what led to President Uhuru Kenyatta’s representative, Odinga, not making it to the launch.

standard procedure

Responding to the issue of having rented more vehicles that were not utilised, Khumalo said they had to book these cars in anticipation of the heads of state’s attendance because that’s the standard procedure.

“The reality is that we were preparing on the basis of the people that had been invited as well as those that had indicated they would be sending representatives. It wasn’t just a wild guess where we were leasing cars without any idea of how many were needed,” he said.

 He said it wasn’t until two days before the launch that they had a good idea who had confirmed and who had not, hence they decided to return some of the cars that would not be needed.

“But it was difficult to return these cars because up until the last day we were still getting confirmations. It wouldn’t have placed us in a good position to find that we return the vehicles only to find that some of the heads of state then confirm their coming,” the minister said.
Khumalo said it was a fact that the impact of this was that they found themselves having booked more cars than actually used.

cars returned to SA

“But it was on the basis of the number of dignitaries that had been invited. We wouldn’t have lowered the status of the dignitaries because these are heads of state. You can’t have them being transported in Toyota corollas or Toyota Cruise vehicles,” he said.
Sources who worked closely with the hiring of the cars disclosed that Lexus SUVs and BMW 5 series vehicles had been hired for the heads of state or their representatives.  

“The cars were parked at His Majesty’s Correctional Services premises at Matsapha correctional facility. They were hired from local companies who partnered with other South Africa-based companies to supply the vehicles,” said one of the sources.

The sources said the vehicles were returned to South Africa on Wednesday, October 8, 2019, which was four days after the launch.
Minister Khumalo, nonetheless, said they had negotiated with the concerned companies to pay for the vehicles based on usage, but was not sure if this was what eventually happened.

Eswatini is the host

“You can imagine it would be difficult for the car dealerships to agree to this because they are also in business. The cars, even though the launch was hosted by my ministry, were rented through foreign affairs Ministry. They were managing who was coming and who was not.  I really don’t know how the negotiations ended. My understanding is that the cars arrived on the 30th, since the dignitaries were to arrive on the 1st and 2nd. Some of them arrived a bit earlier. We had booked the cars for four days but I imagine we negotiated to pay for the two days because we resolved to return those that we wouldn’t use,’ the minister added.
Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Eswatini was announced as host of the Regional e-commerce offices during the African Union Extraordinary Summit held in Niamey, Niger, on July, 7, 2019.
This was after the country had gallantly lost its bid to host the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Ghana won the bid and beat off competition from other countries including Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar and Senegal.
The core mandate of the Secretariat is to implement the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement, which has since been ratified by 25-member states.

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