ECSPONENT CASE: GOVT SHOULD PAY - MPS; AG SAYS NO

LOBAMBA – “The answer is an emphatic no.”

These were the words of the Attorney General, Sifiso Mafelenkhosini Khumalo, yesterday in Parliament as he provided clarity on a submission that seemed to be popular in the House of Assembly. During the debate of the Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr INC (CDH) Forensic Report on the E335 million that was lost through Ecsponent, most Members of Parliament (MPs) were suggesting that government should pay the investors.

The MPs, who included Nkilongo MP Petros Mavimbela, Shiselweni II MP Bhekithemba Bhembe, Lobamba MP Michael Masilela, Ntfonjeni MP, Manzini Region MP Thandeka Mavuso, Mhlambanyatsi MP Dr Bonginkhosi Dlamini, among others suggested that government should pay the investors and then look for Dave van Niekerk, George Manyere, Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) and others to recover the funds.

The MPs said the reason they feel government should pay the investors while it looks for the suspects is because its entities failed to carry out their mandate. They suggested that from the two recommendations that were made by the committee, a third option should be added.The committee, in the tabled report, had suggested that the investors could continue with the legal processes, involving lawsuits and counter lawsuits, should be given space, no matter how long it takes, to bring this matter to finality.

The second one was whether the House assigns the minister for Finance, working with the Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE) Governor to set in motion a model that will get all the two major stakeholder’s companies on the matter involving Manyere and van Nierkerk; FSRA and others, to at least, pay back the principal amounts paid by the investors into Ecsponent Eswatini. The issues of accrual of interest due to investors may be handled separately. It was highlighted that there was a likelihood that more people, if they continue with the court route, might die without getting their money as 81 of the the over 1 000 investors have already passed away.Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo after noting that most MPs were suggesting that government, which is funded by taxpayers, should pay the investors, sought clarity from the AG on whether Parliament could compel government to pay the investors using public funds.

Constitution

The AG said: “The answer is an emphatic no; that cannot happen.” He said the House cannot expect government to pay the investors especially because the funds in question are not public funds as envisaged in Section 206 of the Constitution, but private investments. Khumalo said Parliament has authority where it concerns public funds that are in the consolidated funds such as taxes. He added that Parliament can debate the forensic report but cannot pronounce who should pay, given that there is a matter that is pending in court relating to the matter. “The court is seized with the matter and it is not up to Parliament to say the matter should be withdrawn from court but for the litigants who are the investors,” he said.

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