MBABANE – Critical information stored at the Royal Science and Technology Park (RSTP) was allegedly leaked and sold to a businessman seeking to engage in business with government.
Investigations by this publication have uncovered that the entrepreneur, who is known to this publication, but cannot be named as no charges have been preferred against him to date, presented the information to RSTP.
This is said to have raised ‘red flags’ to senior personnel within the entity as the information possessed by the businessman was confidential and only five personnel within RSTP had credentials to access it.
Noteworthy is that this instance happened at a time when the entity was also investigating if some of its employees abused their privilege and colluded with a female civil servant stationed at the Ministry of Home Affairs in the issuance of national documents to South African ‘crime boss’ Vusimuzi Matlala.
In pursuit of the Matlala hypothesis, which is led by law enforcement and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), it established an attempt to cover up the fraudulent activity.
An implicated Home Affairs employee allegedly called a contact at the RSTP to request the removal of digital traces related to the fraudulent ID.
RSTP officials, while monitoring the system, noticed that the employee’s username had been replaced with that of a deceased colleague.
Meanwhile, subsequent to the presentation by the entrepreneur, internal investigations ensued and it is purported that among the five employees, one of them had accessed the system where such information was stored.
Insiders within the institution claim that after establishing that one of the employees had accessed the system without seeking authorisation on this particular instance, he was put on forced leave.
It has since been established that the institution is now investigating if he also participated in the fraudulent issuance of documents to Matlala.
The Times of Eswatini in an exposé, reported that the Ministry of Home Affairs’ civil registry listed a man with attributes identical to Matlala as Vusimuzi Dlamini, a resident of Motshane, with ID number 7605286100###.
This ‘Dlamini’ was registered as the second-born son of Christinah Thembi Shongwe, a housewife from Motshane. However, authorities were baffled as Shongwe’s actual second-born child is not Vusimuzi, making his registration a mystery, especially with no father listed on the documents seen by this newspaper.
The picture on the Eswatini ID matches Matlala’s widely circulated image in South African media, suggesting a recent acquisition.
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Matter touches on national security – RSTP
MBABANE – The Royal Science and Technology Park (RSTP) is mum on the matter.
Senior Communications Officer at RSTP Senzo Malaza said: “The matters raised on the questionnaire touch on sensitive operational matters of the RSTP and national security. We therefore humbly request that we do not discuss them in the public domain. We however remain committed to working with all State agencies whenever our expertise is needed as per our mandate.”
Malaza was responding to a questionnaire furnished to his office which sought his institution to elaborate on the collaboration between it and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
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We can’t say much on this matter – Home Affairs
MBABANE – “Government departments and ministries collaborate in various acts, but we can’t say much on this matter.”
Home Affairs Communications Officer Mlandvo Dlamini said this when sought for comment on whether his portfolio had requested assistance from the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT), which the Royal Science and Technology Park is a parastatal of.
Dlamini was asked if his portfolio had requested the Ministry of ICT to also investigate its personnel as this publication had uncovered that during its investigations, it was established that Home Affairs employees colluded with an officer at RSTP.
The ministry’s spokesperson said: “The ministry collaborates and shares information with all other ministries; however, in this particular issue, we cannot comment for now. We shall do so once investigations have been concluded.”
*Full article available in our publication.
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