OVER 40 ‘GHOST HOUSEHOLDS’ IN E20M SIKHUPHE COMPENSATION

SITEKI – Serious allegations of corruption have been reported regarding the E20 million compensation payout to communities that were affected during the construction of King Mswati III International Airport at Sikhuphe.

It has been alleged that over 40 ‘ghost households’ benefitted from the E20 million disbursed by government.These included undeserving individuals who were not supposed to benefit from the compensation payout, while in some instances, the funds were inflated. It was established that in one of the alleged corrupt payouts, an owner of a stick-and-mud house was paid E400 000 yet other houses got far less.

The inclusion of undeserving households is said to have come at the detriment of those who were supposed to be paid. As such, last month, close to 100 residents under Mdladlane community met to express their disgruntlement after being left out in the first phase of the compensation process that started in April this year.

Operated

Mdladlane community is about 3km away from the Malindza Umphakatsi and a neighbour to Ntandweni area and close to the quarry mine that is operated by Inyatsi Construction Company. The affected families are residents from five communities comprising of Ntandweni, Mhlahlane, Gwayimane, Sulutane and Mbalenhle. These communities are close to the airport and the roads that were constructed during the construction of the airport in 2013.

Chairman of the newly-elected committee in charge of ensuring that all the affected families are compensated, Dan Mabuza, said about 41 ‘ghost households’ were enlisted as beneficiaries by the working committee that was elected and in charge of the families that camped by the quarry mine late last year. Mabuza alleged that they unearthed that corruption was at its worst due to that there were no clear explanations when they confronted some of the committee members about the ‘ghost households’ that were on the list.

He said the issue of the ‘ghost households’ enlisted in the report that recently got compensated was raised, but some members poured cold water on it and it was not addressed.
The chairman said he wanted to know who the beneficiaries were and if they were also affected during the construction of the airport, as an inspection in loco during the consultation process was not done. He said they had raised the matter with the Director of Millennium Projects, Patrick Mnisi. Millennium Projects is a department under the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development. Mnisi’s mobile phone ran unanswered when sought for comment yesterday.

Adding, Mabuza said Mnisi advised them to write a comprehensive letter unpacking all the discrepancies and grievances by the new committee and direct it to the ministry’s Principal Secretary (PS), Thabisile Mlangeni. He further mentioned that Mnisi also enlightened them that the letter should have a stamp from the Malindza Umphakatsi, which they failed to get as the umphakatsi did not recognise the new committee. He said they then resolved to hand-deliver the letter to the PS yesterday as a committee, so that their grievances could be attended to before the disbursement of the E26 million for the second phase.

“I raised the issue of the 41 households enlisted on the submitted list. We uncovered that there was something amiss because we don’t know about some of the beneficiaries and no one was committed to giving an explanation about them, hence we smelt that something was fishy,” he claimed.

Threatened

He said some of the committee members who questioned the authenticity of the ‘ghost households’ were threatened with death. On the issue of the stick-and-mud house also benefitting from the compensation exercise, the chairman confirmed it. “Out of all the paid households in the first phase of the compensation exercise, they only got 43 per cent and they are still to get 57 per cent of their money from the E26 million to be approved by government,” Mabuza said. The chairman further alleged that he was informed that a one-room house that belonged to a son of one of the influential people was paid E76 000.

“It is on this premise that we held a meeting with Ntandweni and Mhlahlane residents to get answers as to why some of the deserving households were left out of the submitted list, yet there were corrupt elements that were uncovered by some of the committee members which were left unattended,” the chairman alleged. Also echoing Mabuza’s assertions on this matter was former chairman of the committee, Sithembiso Dludlu.

Dludlu, who had threatened to spill the beans about the problems and corrupt elements that had engulfed the disbursement exercise, further affirmed the issue of the ‘ghost households’. “Initially, we discovered that over 40 households were enlisted without the knowledge of some committee members. It is disheartening that when we enquired about their authenticity, threats were issued against us. We managed to catch the corruption elements before the payment, but nothing was done,” he claimed.
Majabhi Fakudze, chairman of the disbanded committee, said according to his knowledge, issues of compensation of residents were being dealt with by his committee and government.
“Government paid households that reflected in the initial report and those left out were still to be paid,” he said. When asked about the ‘ghost households’ that were claimed to have benefitted in the compensation exercise, Fakudze said he had no knowledge about them. Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development Mlangeni said she would await the delivery of the letter. “I will await the delivery of the letter and then take it from there,” she briefly stated in a WhatsApp message.

Meanwhile, close to 100 Ntandweni residents camped by the quarry mine near King Mswati III International Airport late last year. Initially, the residents’ gripe was that government was applying a snail’s pace in compensating them their money for the damaged structures during the blasting by Inyatsi Construction Company during the construction of the airport in 2013.
Police officers, together with Dvokodvweni Member of Parliament (MP) Mduduzi Magagula, met the residents to find a lasting solution to the matter.

Campsite

Worth mentioning is that a seven-member Parliament select committee headed by Lobamba Member Parliament (MP) Marwick Khumalo met the residents at the campsite situated just about 200m from the quarry mine’s fence a couple of months ago to solve the compensation impasse. The other members were MP Strydom Mpanza, House of Assembly Speaker Petro Mavimbela, Lutfo Dlamini, Thandi Nxumalo, Kenneth Fakudze and Mduduzi Magagula.

In November last year, government’s representatives in PSsThulani Mkhaliphi, Mlangeni, Roads Chief Engineer Vincent Dlamini, Dvokodvweni MP Magagula, Malindza Umphakatsi Indvuna Sipho Dlamini and the residents’ Chairman Mdluli, met the over 200 disgruntled residents at their campsite. Meanwhile, government has a budget of E120 million towards facilitating the relocation programme of over 45 homesteads of Ntandweni area situated close to King Mswati III International Airport.

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