MINISTER LEADS TOUR OF BRITANNIA BRANDS AMID RIFT

MANZINI – The Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade, Manqoba Khumalo and EIPA management led the ministry’s parliamentary portfolio committee members on a private tour of Britannia Brands.
The private tour by the stakeholders follows an ongoing rift between Britannia Brands Managing Director, Mobeen Mehdi and the Eswatini Investment Promotion Authority (EIPA), which was placed at E20 million investment.The tour was conducted at the company’s factory shell at Matsapha Industrial Site yesterday. According to a source close to the matter, the portfolio committee wanted to see what the investor was talking about.

Investor

The investor told Kwaluseni Member of Parliament (MP) Sifiso Shongwe that he was unhappy with the treatment he received from EIPA when he sought to acquire a factory shell in Matsapha. Among the complaints was that EIPA failed to meet some of the agreements they had signed. On the other hand, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade said Britannia Brands did not meet investor qualities. The ministry denied that the investor was ill-treated and that the factory provided to it was substandard or did not meet the agreed specifications.
The ministry alleged that the investor did not adhere to EIPA terms of agreement. It said the agreement was valid for a specified duration and the investor was required to take occupation of the factory shell and the agreement elapsed.

In that regard, it said as a ministry, they were currently in the process of securing another investor to occupy the factory shell. The Kwaluseni MP who is also the vice-chairman of the ministry’s parliamentary portfolio committee, who raised the matter in Parliament, said after their visit yesterday, he found that there were technicalities, in particular financial capabilities, which the investor purportedly does not meet. As such, he said as a representative of emaSwati in Parliament, his advice is that the investor should source funding with security in order to meet EIPA requirements.

He said according to the ministry and EIPA, if the investor can get funding with security tomorrow, a lease agreement could be prepared and signed immediately. He added that as an MP, he has the responsibility to protect emaSwati, in terms of ensuring that the job opportunities which are created are descent. He said they cannot allow emaSwati to work for an investor they do not know if he will be able to pay their wages.On the other hand, Mehdi, who confirmed that he was aware that the minister, EIPA management and ministry’s parliamentary portfolio committee visited the factory shell yesterday, said he does not know why they went there. “I also do not know what transpired,” the investor added. He said according to his understanding, parliamentarians are not experts to determine food standards and the required factory shell specifications.

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