7-MEMBER TEAM TO PROBE STATE MEDIA HOUSES

LOBAMBA – A seven member Team has been elected to probe state-owned media houses for serious allegations of corruption, nepotism and maladministration.

The Eswatini Television Authority (ETVA) and Eswatini Broadcasting and Information Services (EBIS) have been rocked by allegations of corruption, nepotism and maladministration and Motshane Member of Parliament Robert Magongo moved a motion that the two state-owned media houses be investigated.

The motion requested that the House of Assembly elects a seven-member select committee to investigate serious allegations of corruption, nepotism and maladministration reported to be rampant at the Eswatini TV and EBIS. Consequently the select committee shall, within 60 days of passing the motion, lay on table a report with its findings and recommendations.

Initially, it was only Eswatini TV that was to be probed by the seven member select committee team but Magongo made an amendment to the motion to have both media houses investigated for the same allegations.

In his submission, Magongo stated that there was a senior employee at Eswatini TV who left the station after his contract expired but was re-employed into the same position he was occupying before he left. Magongo said upon his return to the station, the senior employee, who has executive powers at the station, allegedly dismissed some employees who allegedly failed to cover his traditional event thereby victimising those who were scheduled to cover.
Magongo made further claims that a prominent member of the ETVA board had a hiring agency which was responsible for employment at the station, which was a conflict of interest.

Retuern

“Many employees found themselves without jobs after his return at the station and word has it that he didn’t want to work with the staff whose loyalty was with the then executive team but wanted to have his own loyalists within the station thus dismissing multiple employees. We want the elected members to investigate these allegations and furnish the house with a detailed report on their findings because there is a lot of rot at these institutions,” he said.
Dvokodvweni MP Mduduzi Magagula, who seconded Magongo’s motion, said firing people for not covering someone’s personal event was an unfair practice and he concurred with Magongo that there was a conflict of interest at the station on the allegation that a prominent ETVA Board member had a recruitment agency responsible for hiring at the station.

Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo said some people at government parastatals had no regard or respect for the ministers and they interfered in business of Parliament by addressing pending issues in informal forums despite that those issues were still under scrutiny. Khumalo was making reference to the same issue at ETVA and EBIS, stating that people with executive powers at the government parastatals should not employ a ‘tough guy’ attitude and disrespect their seniors.

Empowered

“As parliamentarians, we are empowered and mandated to address these issues and we shouldn’t be disrespected by people who have no regard or respect for their seniors,” he said.
Regional MP Busisiwe Mavimbela said the working environment at these parastatals was a sick one. She said employees spent most of their time at work and if the environment was not friendly, they were prone to sicknesses and depression, which could lead to suicide at times.

She alleged that there was no job security at these two entities, particularly at ETVA because that was seemingly an individual’s farm and the senior employee was doing as he pleased.
However, the motion failed to get a thumbs up from Ngwempisis MP Mathandeni Dube, who said the seven-member select committee should not be elected because there were government bodies like the Anti Corruption Commission who were responsible for making such investigations and the responsibility should be left with them and legislators would only get in when these bodies had done their part. His submission was met with discontent from other MPs though and one of them, Matsanjeni South MP Phila Buthelezi, said these institutions were fully funded by the taxpayers money and as parliamentarians , they would not fold arms and watch while things were taking a turn for the worse. The motion was passed and the seven select committee team was elected.

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