MBABANE – Mayiwane MP Sicelo ‘Khungankhosi’ Dlamini has slammed the local Sports minister over allegations of fund diversion.
Minister for Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs Bongani Nzima is accused of using his powers to divert E5 million allocated for the Ntfonjeni Sports Centre to construct a facility at Sandleni instead. Nzima doubles as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Sandleni Constituency.
The issue came to light before Parliament adopted the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs Portfolio Committee’s first-quarter performance report for the 2026/27 financial year on Wednesday.
“In this issue, the House has pronounced itself when it comes to the E5 million funds. It pronounced itself again. Now we ask the chair to give us some clarity because Economic Planning and Sports are preparing to establish a sports centre at Sandleni. There are circulating reports suggesting the Sports minister has firmly declared that as long as he is in office, the funds will be used for that project, much against the allocations of the budget,” Dlamini alleged.
The Mayiwane MP strongly opposed the diversion of the funds to cater for an alternative project.
“He cannot use borrowed powers to divert funds belonging to Hhohho and Ntfonjeni because of his presence. We are saying these funds should be directed to Ntfonjeni as per the parliamentary allocation,” the MP added.
While some of the more sensitive political allegations raised during the heated debate could not be repeated, lawmakers firmly maintained that the public funds must strictly build the Ntfonjeni Centre rather than being redirected to Sandleni.
His remarks prompted Minister for Education and Training Owen Nxumalo to rise on a point of order. Nxumalo asked the legislator to withdraw his reference to campaigning, saying the statement was inappropriate and did not reflect the facts.
The MP swiftly did as requested by the House. Following the debate, Parliament adopted the portfolio committee report with an amendment clearly stating that the E5 million must not be diverted and must be used for the construction of the Ntfonjeni Sports Centre, as originally approved by the House.
Meanwhile, Ntfonjeni MP Raymond Dlamini shared the same sentiments, asking the House to amend the report to make it explicitly clear that the money should remain tied to the project for which it was originally approved. Dlamini said officials from the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development had visited the Ntfonjeni project site and, during discussions, indicated that there were plans to divert the funds.
“We can appreciate the Ministry of Sports with regards to the E5 million Ntfonjeni Sports Centre funds which were diverted last financial year. We ask that after raising it in the quarterly report, it shows funds were released for use. We often hear allegations about this matter and therefore recommend that there be no diversion of these funds in this financial year. It should not be allocated elsewhere because there are ongoing reports suggesting that,” he remarked. Notably, the Ntfonjeni funds were earlier diverted to an unbudgeted project at Maphalaleni.
On Wednesday in South Africa, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) secured a judgment delivered by the Special Tribunal, declaring unlawful and invalid the National Lotteries Commission’s (NLC) E9 million grant to the Motheo Sports and Entertainment Foundation for the construction of a sports complex in Protea Glen, Soweto, which was never built.
At the time of compiling this report, the minister had yet to respond to the allegations and recommendations.
