E3.4m GOVT CARS REGISTERED IN SECRETARY’S NAME

MBABANE – Under highly controversial circumstances, five vehicles bought with a loan from World Bank have been registered in Nanikie Mnisi’s name.

Mnisi is the Under Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Training. Government obtained a loan of E486 million from the World Bank Group to strengthen the country’s education service delivery and management systems. A sum of E486 million is the equivalent of US$27 million. The project is also co-financed by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) through a grant of E85.5 million, the equivalent of US$4.75 million. The vehicles are three Toyota Station Wagon (Fortuner 2.4 GD) retailing at E733 100 each, and two Toyota LDV (Toyota Hilux Raider) priced at E602 100 each. In total, the five vehicles cost, at minimum, a sum of E3.4 million. 

  It has been learnt that the registration of the government assets in a person’s name is sharply contrary to the Public Finance Management Act of 2017 and the Constitution of the Kingdom of Swaziland (Eswatini). Section 277 (1) of the Constitution states that: “Subject to the provisions of Chapter XII, all properties and all assets which immediately before the commencement of this Constitution were vested in any authority or person for the purposes of, or in the right of the government or in the government shall, on the commencement of this Constitution, vest in the government.”

Upon commencement of the Constitution, legal experts advise that all public assets shall vest in government. Sizakele Dlamini, the Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Finance, said there was no provision in the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), 2017, for personal registration of government assets. She said all government vehicles should be entered in the car register at the Central Transport Administration (CTA).  The PS, who doubles as the controlling officer responsible for safety of public funds, said Section 80 of the PFMA was clear on this issue.  Dlamini said Section 80 provides that asset management lies primarily on the principal secretary in the Ministry of Finance and secondarily falls under the jurisdiction of chief executive officers (CEOs) of public entities.

For an asset to be registered in the Asset Register, the controlling officer said it should be in the name of the public entity, but not in the name of an officer or ps. Section 80 (1) provides that: “The chief executive officer of a public entity, local government or government business enterprise shall be responsible for the management of assets of the public entity and shall manage the assets to ensure government achieves value for money when acquiring, using and disposing of government assets.”  

Responsible for finance

Section 72 of the Act states that the ps responsible for finance has the power to keep records of accounts of loans taken by government. It has been learnt that all public assets registered as SD, including those driven by the ministers are registered under government. Meanwhile, Mnisi who has been the Acting PS in the Ministry of Education and Training, confirmed that the vehicles were registered in her name in good faith. She said they were registered in her name because she is the project manager. Mnisi assured the public that the cars would be transferred to government ownership after the completion of the project.

However, government officials have expressed concern that there was no documented undertaking in the form of an affidavit that the vehicles would be transferred back to government.
Attorney General (AG) Sifiso Khumalo, known as Indvuna Mashamphu, said he advised that the project would not be ‘neat’ if there was lack of an agreement stipulating explicitly that the vehicles would be transferred to government.

“Basically, I did not support the arrangement in its current format,” the AG said.
The types of the vehicles are as follows:

• Toyota, Station Wagon, Diesel Oil, registered LSD 597 DH, Chassis No. AHTKB3CD502670833; Engine No. 2GD1464691;
• Toyota L.D.V, LSD 654 DH, Chassis No. AHTKB3CD202669414, Engine No. 2GDD299767;
• Toyota, Station Wagon, Diesel Oil, LSD 716 DH, Chassis No. AHTDB3FS400370098, Engine No. 2GDD327549;
• Toyota, L.D.V, LSD 587 DH, Chassis No. AHTKB3CD502670461, Engine No. 2GD1463720
• Toyota, Station Wagon, Diesel Oil, LSD598 DH, Chassis No. AHTDB3FS800249641, Engine No. 2GDD282813.

Owen Nxumalo, the Minister of Education and Training, said he was first reluctant to append his signature in the acquisition of the vehicles because they were registered in an official’s name. After consultations, he said, he was assured that the rules governing the project stated that the property should be registered in a contact person’s name. Nxumalo said one reason for the registration of the vehicles in Mnisi’s name was that they were not in the government system to be filled up at the Central Transport Administration (CTA). CTA is an official garage for the government. When he first heard of the manner in which the cars were registered, the minister said it was scary such that he refused to sign for anything to do with the cars.

 He said it was the first time to see a government property being registered in a person’s name. Nxumalo explained that he was told that registering the cars in the under secretary’s name or rather project manager was a World Bank requirement. After officers had assured him that there was nothing untoward about registering the cars in Mnisi’s name, the minister said he then appended his signature. He made it clear that the onus was on them to ensure that the cars were indeed transferred to government upon completion of the project.

Ownership

“We have a duty as officers of the ministry to remember to ensure transfer of the cars to government ownership,” Minister Nxumalo said. Government vehicles are under the jurisdiction of CTA, a department under the Ministry of Public Works and Transport. Thulani Mkhaliphi, the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, said he had checked the registration of the vehicles and discovered that they were project cars under the Ministry of Education and Training. In a statement, Mkhaliphi said they were not yet government vehicles.  He stated: “I have checked the registration of the vehicles concerned and it shows that they are project vehicles under the Ministry of Education and Training. They are as yet not government vehicles.”

Regarding this matter, the PS said the Ministry of Education and Training was better placed to give details. In reaction to the issue, Mnisi, the Under Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Training, conceded that there was no affidavit stipulating that the cars would be transferred to government ownership. She assured the public and government that she would not keep them as her personal property. In fact, she said the vehicles did not belong to her. Technically, she said, the vehicles also did not belong to government but were owned by the ‘government project’ financed by World Bank.

“I’m little disappointed on the confusion, but I fully understand it is accountability,” she said. Under notorial practice, Mnisi said she was a trustee who had no personal gain on the trust.
By virtue of her position, she explained that she was, among other things, executing the duties and responsibilities of a trustee. She said her powers as a trustee would cease to exist after the duration of the project.

Transferred to State

Upon completion of the project, she insisted that all assets under her name would be transferred to the State. Other assets under her name include furniture for the project offices.
She was asked what other strong reason that forced her into taking such a decision. She responded that the vehicles, as a requirement, should be insured during the duration of the project.
Mnisi said government did not provide insurance for its vehicles. She mentioned that the five vehicles were equipped with GPS trackers for navigation and safety purposes.
The under secretary suspected that the people who were bitter about the registration of the cars in her name could be aggrieved by her decision to ensure they were being used for the intended purpose.

She said some officers wanted to abuse the cars. Mnisi alleged that some of these officers even requested for permission to travel by these vehicles to South Africa. “I told them that they would return to the country by bus. They know what I meant,” she said. When asked how the cars were being filled up at private garages and who was actually bearing the expenses, Mnisi said the money from the World Bank catered for this cost.  There is currently a staff complement of nine professionals, mainly seconded civil servants.

The under secretary is responsible for payment of their salaries through an account held with Standard Bank. Further asked why the salaries were not discharged from an account held by the Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE), she said World Bank transferred the funds to the Consolidated Fund. She said there was no way the money could be mismanaged because the CBE was aware of the activities of the account held by Standard Bank. She said everything was done according to the book and there was nothing sinister about the account and the manner in which she managed the project.

Acting Accountant General Nomsa Simelane referred enquries to the Ministry of Finance. Section 10 (1) of the Public Finance Management Act stipulates that the accountant general shall be responsible for the:
(a)     payment of expenditure and collection of revenues required in this Act to be managed through the government account;
(b)     custody and safety of public money and other resources of the government under the control of the accountant general and the setting of standards and monitoring standards for the custody and safety of money and other resources of government not under the control of the accountant general. 

A source close to World Bank wondered how the highly acclaimed financial institution would order a ministry to register vehicles in a person’s name when those cars were bought with government money. “The loan was advanced to government and the money now belongs to government, not World Bank. Government is then free to use the loan for the intended purpose,” the source said.  It must be said that the World Bank-financed project is expected to improve the quality of education in the early years and for junior secondary pupils, in targeted areas. When seeking the loan, the Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini stated that it recognised the importance of the education sector and the role it was playing in building the country’s human capital and transforming its economic and social landscape.

Despite prioritising education both in terms of financing and policies (Eswatini introduced Free Primary Education (FPE) in 2010), school completion rates and learning outcomes have been low compared to other lower-middle income countries. Prolonged school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to have exacerbated pupils dropout rates and low learning levels, particularly for children from poor and vulnerable households. It is said that the project supports government in addressing learning loses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly among the poor and most vulnerable.

It takes a life-cycle approach to human capital development, ensuring that all children start with a solid foundation for learning by strengthening the quality of early childhood care, development and education, as well as supporting teachers to deliver effective foundational literacy and numeracy programmes in primary schools. The World Bank commended government for prioritising human capital investments. Government was also applauded for its dedication to improving accessibility, effectiveness and inclusiveness of education services, particularly for orphaned and vulnerable children.  

Strategic

The project supports Eswatini’s human capital development agenda by strongly aligning with the country’s National Strategic Development Plan (2018/19-2022/23) and the new Education Strategic Sector Plan (2022-2034). The new Education Strategic Sector Plan has a strong focus on improving learning levels, access to and completion of education; strengthening teacher management and development; and building the resilience of the education sector to respond to future crises. It must be said that the project aims to put in place the critical building blocks to improving service delivery in early childhood development, foundational learning and secondary education to better prepare children and youth for the future.
It seeks to strengthen the management of the education sector through better data collection, analysis and dissemination to build a stronger culture of accountability for results.
In fact, it also seeks to complement the ongoing Health Systems Strengthening and COVID-19 Emergency Response projects, which the World Bank Group has been financing to support holistic human capital development in the kingdom.

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