Bucopho disappears, wife illegally withdraws salary from govt

MBABANE-A woman who continued to withdraw a salary that was illegally paid to her husband who disappeared from work has been made to pay back the money.

This follows a discovery that was made by the Auditor General, Timothy Matsebula and is contained in his report for the year ended March 31, 202.

In his report, the AG stated that he reported that the Bucopho from Mphumakudze Chiefdom under Siphofaneni Inkhundla, bearing employment number 101897381, unduly received salary amounting to

E148,499.04 when absconded from duty from the 23rd July 2024 to February 2025.

The AG said according to a letter dated May 7, 2025, the Chairperson of Siphofaneni Inkhundla Council reported that the officer had been absent for 27 sittings from Inkhundla meetings and he last attended the Council meeting on July 23, 2024.

The Ministry of Tinkhundla Administration, according to the AG’s report, stopped paying the salary on February 14, 2025.

The AG made reference to Financial and Accounting Instruction 0204(ii) which states that if at any time there is loss of public moneys by reason of neglect or fault of any officer, he will be liable to be surcharged with the amount and any sums due to him by Government may be withheld.

in satisfaction of such surcharge.

“The unduly received salary is a financial loss to Government, and the public funds were not spent prudently and not for the intended purpose. I advised the controlling officer to recover the unduly paid salaries, and enforce internal controls that prohibit absenteeism and ensure that no payment of salary is made to absconding officials,” the AG said.

He said in response, the controlling officer stated that upon investigation, it was discovered that payments were utilized by the spouse.

The controlling officer is said to have further stated that the ministry was now in the process of recovering the funds from the spouse.

A letter of demand to the spouse dated December 31, 2025, acknowledgement of debt by the spouse dated January 9, 2026, indicating that the spouse agreed to pay E5 530.00 per month, were submitted.

Furthermore, the controlling officer is said to have shared that a minute was written to all regional secretaries instructing them to effectively monitor and to promptly report such and similar anomalies.

During the appearance of the ministry before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) yesterday, Under Secretaru Zwakele Dlamini shared that the man moved to neighbouring South Africa and the ministry was not able to quickly see that he was no longer active at the constituency.

“I think after we conducted the outreach programme that is done in the regions, that is when we discovered that a member was not there anymore. We called the Inkhundla Council and they confirmed that he had left for South Africa,” said the US.

He mentioned that they then conducted a follow-up investigation to ascertain as to who was withdrawing the money and discovered that it was the man’s spouse.

“We engaged her and she acknowledged and promised to pay it back. However, there were then by-elections and God worked on our side; the wife won the seat to replace the husband. She then wrote a commitment letter; she is now paying the debt of her husband; we have advice slips that begin in February. She has been paying back the money in the months of February, March and April. The agreement is that she is paying E6 2082 and will do so until the full amount is settled,” the US said.

After the US’s revelations, MP Sicelo Ndlangamandla asked to know what exactly the wife was paying for and whether such is lawful.

PAC Chairperson stepped in and explained that she was paying because it was discovered that she was the one who withdrew the money despite knowing that her husband was nolonger showing up for work.

Gege MP Magesi Dlamini said it was worrying that the ministry took so long to uncover the anomaly.

“The fact that the salary continued to be withdrawn when the person was no longer showing up for work is a sign that someone was not doing his or her job. We are grateful, however, that the woman has admitted to withdrawing the money and committed to paying the money back,” the MP said.