ARRESTS LOOMING IN HOME AFFAIRS INVESTIGATION

MBABANE – The net is closing in on civil servants who are implicated in the fraudulent activities at the Ministry of Home Affairs.

This is because the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), which has been conducting investigations, has reportedly completed its work. This publication has gathered that the ACC has completed its work and around 10 officers are set to face the music. Having concluded the investigation, it was gathered that ACC officers were already working on an application to obtain warrants of arrests for the implicated individuals. Sources revealed that if all goes according to plan, the arrests would be effected in the next coming days. Called for comment, ACC Acting Commissioner Maphevu Mkhatjwa said while the commission has completed its investigation, he could not say when the arrests would be effected. Mkhatjwa argued that it was not wise to reveal anything, as such would jeopardise whatever investigation they carried out. He then referred this reporter to ACC Spokesperson Jabu Phakathi who, however, told this reporter that she was not aware of any planned arrests.

Prohibits

Phakathi reminded this reporter that the entity operates within the ambit of the law which prohibits the disclosure of information or details of any person who is the subject of an enquiry or investigation. The ACC has a three-pronged legal mandate of prevention whereby it is supposed to examine practices and procedures and advice on ways of preventing corruption.
It also has an education role of empowering the public and private bodies and the general public on the forms and dangers of corruption.  Furthermore, the ACC has the function of investigation which is to receive and investigate complaints of alleged or suspected corrupt practices made against any person, and refer appropriate cases to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).  

Refugee status

In 2022, the Ministry of Home Affairs instituted an internal probe into the sale of refugee status and passports to foreign nationals.  Police investigations reportedly found that there was a syndicate dealing in documentation status and refugee passports.  It was revealed that the syndicate charged between E30 000 and E50 000 for fresh and legal documents for any undocumented citizen, who wanted to be treated as an official refugee in the Kingdom of Eswatini.The internal investigations saw over 100 immigration officers being transferred last year.  At the time, the Immigration Office was faced with the challenge of disappearance and theft of security documents such as passports and travel documents.When the investigation was instituted, the ministry did state that heads were set to roll, as it was dedicated to getting rid of all elements of corruption.

Aiding a syndicate

In one of the cases, there were allegations that government officials were aiding a syndicate in Manzini that was dealing in refugee status documentation and passports. It was alleged that during the internal investigation, an official confessed to taking a bribe from a foreign national. She, however, could not renew the passport and it triggered the investigation and the ACC reportedly instituted an internal investigation in the ministry to ascertain if there were officers who were involved in granting the passports illegally. It has been reported that as the ACC continued with its investigation, it was discovered that in the system, the information on who had printed the passports had been deleted. Reliable sources have confided that the ACC then engaged the Royal Science and Technology Park (RSTP) based on the fact that it is the one that controls the systems of the making of passports and other documents.

The RSTP, it was gathered, has what is known as the administrative rights and there are officers who are able to find the documents since there are footprints that are in the system.
The RSTP system is able to determine that an officer presented the documents and this is made possible through the use of the IP address of the computer that was used. There were suspicions that there could be officers who wiped out some of the evidence and the RSTP has to come in to re-assemble the needed data. Worth noting is that for some time, the ACC has been deemed inefficient with members of the public and politicians labelling it toothless in that it received a government subvention but did not effect as many arrests as expected.

However, things have changed in recent months as there have been arrests witnessed. Last month, the ACC nabbed a UNESWA lecturer and a senior officer of the National Maize Corporation (NMC). The UNESWA lecturer, who is also a farmer, has been identified as Daniel Vusane Dlamini of Mkhulamini, while the officer is Mthobisi Sifiso Dlamini of Nyakeni and is employed as a Project Manager at NMC.The two are alleged to have colluded in a corrupt act involving a truck trailer belonging to government.

Prevention of corruption

The duo was arrested in accordance with the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA), a legislation enacted to investigate and punish corrupt activities, establish the ACC and to provide for other matters incidental to the prevention of corruption. The POCA was put in place in 2018 and since its inception, the State has seized and subsequently forfeited a number of assets that are believed to have been acquired through criminal means or used as instrumentality for criminal activities. The two individuals are said to have been arrested for allegedly contravening Section 42 of the POCA, which details general offences of corruption. The veracity of the allegations is yet to be tested in court. According to the charge sheet, in 2015, the Government of Eswatini bought farming equipment which included tractors, tractor trailers and other farming implements for purposes of hiring them out to farmers in the country. The tractor trailers bought were 50 in number.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: