WHY PRINCE LONKHOKHELA GOT CONTRACT RENEWAL

MBABANE – ENPF Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Prince Lonkhokhela, has been given a two-year contract extension, but the Board has so much confidence in him they wanted three years.

The prince’s previous contract at the Eswatini National Provident Fund (ENPF) came to an end on January 31, 2022. Towards the end of the prince’s contract, the Fund’s Board Chairman Mashumi Shongwe, took the Times SUNDAY into his confidence and outlined the reasons they had recommended to Minister of Labour and Social Security Phila Buthelezi, that the CEO’s tenure be extended.

He said as per procedure, the CEO indicated to the Board his interest to continue working for the Fund, and the Board sat down to deliberate on what the prince had submitted as motivation for the contract renewal. He said the Board looked at where the prince had taken the Fund from and where it was at the present moment. One of the issues that was thought would be a major factor to be considered in the deliberations was the prince’s age, as he has reached 60, which is government’s official retirement age. With the ENPF being a public enterprise, it was envisaged that the retirement age benchmark would be applied. But Shongwe said this was not even a consideration: “The Fund has no policy in place that forbids him to have a contract beyond the age of 60 years.”

The chairman also stated: “Beyond 60 years he is still fit and capable of discharging his duties, the experience, skill and commitment is what counts the most.”  He said the Board looked at the amount of commitment that the prince had and found that there was no reason not to recommend to the Minister that he should have his contract renewed. “Firstly, the Fund needs a CEO who will love his job. Secondly, he should fear and respect the job because this is money that belongs to citizens. Thirdly, he should be a person who is able to work with people from all walks of life with an attitude of humbleness, respect and ability to listen to them. “The Fund needs someone who is able to recognise what could collapse the organisation and also know the enemies of the Fund. He should know the enemies of a business of this nature. He should know where the risks and threats to the Fund’s organisation could come from and how these could be prevented. The Prince has all of these qualities. There is nothing I can point out as lacking from him, at the moment, looking at what he has shown us while working for the Fund,” Shongwe stated.

Board’s plans for fund

He said there are plans that the Board has for the Fund; which are short-term, medium-term and long-term, and the prince has all the know-how regarding these plans as they had been working with him and he was the one who could achieve them very quickly. He said the Board has seen that the world and the economy have been affected by COVID-19 and other factors that he did not need to mention, because they are known and the prince was well suited to rake the Fund through these. “We need someone with experience in working for the Fund, and the prince has all that we need,” the chairman said. Shongwe singled out what he said was an important thing that the CEO had done with his management team – that is, the stakeholder forum.

He said the Stakeholder Forum was an initiative introduced by the CEO and his team to bring together, in March of every year, all the stakeholders of the organisation as contributors and owners of the money that goes into the Fund. “They (stakeholders) are called into a meeting where the Fund, through the CEO, his team and the Board, accounts on what is being done, the direction being taken, the journey behind, explain the causes of either good or poor performance, and give an account of where the Fund’s money has been invested and provide the stakeholders with audited statements.

“There are a few organisations which have done this in the country and the world over. But the CEO has done this; to give stakeholders an opportunity to have an insight into the Fund’s operations and critique where necessary and encourage as well as offer cooperation where they deem necessary,” Shongwe elaborated. He said the organisation is a different institution from other funds because it handles money that belongs to emaSwati (employers and employees) and affiliates to ESA, which is an international organisation that looks at how provident funds operate.  “There is a lot of experience that the CEO has, including serving at ESA. The prince’s experience at the Fund is second to none,” the chairman added. Already, the prince has gotten down to work and declared that the Fund is fully committed, intentional and firmly dedicated to being a dependable partner in accelerating Eswatini’s economic recovery even in 2022 and beyond.

CEO’s world class vision

The CEO has outlined that the vision and mission of the Fund is to be ‘a world-class social security fund that positively contributes to the livelihoods of our members and to the economy of Eswatini’ . He has also stated that the purpose of the Fund is to be ‘a trusted social security partner that cares about Eswatini’s socio-economic development, through increasing compliance, investment growth, creating a culture of service excellence, retaining a team of motivated and committed staff’.

“We deeply care about Eswatini’s socio-economic development, as such, we prioritise local investment to accelerate its economic recovery, and deliver the best possible returns for our members. In our quest to offer a world-class social security fund that positively contributes to the livelihoods of our members and the economy of Eswatini, we continually search for viable investment opportunities,” he declared. The CEO disclosed that as a result of the improvement in the performance of the financial market conditions, the Fund’s investments had delivered excellent performance in the previous year, which when coupled with its rigorous risk management over the long term, put the Fund in a robust position. He explained, however, that this has not been an accidental success, but gave credit to the structures and strategies that make up and inform ENPF investment decisions, including its diverse Investment Strategy.
“The Fund’s investment strategy is underpinned by diversification as a guiding principle.

This diversification is across domestic, other African and global markets across a wide range of asset classes, private and listed entities with a long-term approach. Nearly two-thirds of our investments remain in the domestic market, with the remaining one-third being invested with South African Asset Fund Managers and offshore,” he said. The prince said this was deliberate and in order with the level of investments held locally being higher than foreign investments, adding that local investments had continually yielded a higher percentage of investment income.

“I’m pleased that as the ENPF, we are leading instead of trying to meet the stipulated requirements of local investments. We are always above the stated threshold and even around 56 per cent now. It is our model that we are keen to invest locally, because we believe in the outputs it has in terms of socio-economic development and job creation. We have had no problems with the regulator because we are always proactive and above the set limit,” he stated. ENPF’s local investments are indeed well-diversified, with local private investments having the highest percentage (31 per cent), followed by investment properties (14 per cent) and local loans and advances (8 per cent). The Fund is invested in these sectors; financial, hospitality, retail, health, forestry, agricultural and energy.

ENPF has a mix of commercial and residential properties in its portfolio, with the commercial properties reportedly accounting for 57 per cent, while the residential properties account for 43 per cent. Shedding more light on the general performance of the investments, which will be highlighted in detail in its annual report, the CEO has credited tight expense control, diligent debtor compliance management and significant sector diversification to assist the Fund’s investment properties to perform much better than most investment properties in Eswatini and the region. “The Fund’s positive investment returns over the years have enabled the Fund to pay the highest possible interest rate to its members in the comparative market,” he added with satisfaction.

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