Africa-Press – Eswatini. OK Foods Director, Lincoln Motsa, has broken his silence over allegations that he is in business with members of the royal family.
Motsa said neither was he a front for His Majesty King Mswati III.
He was addressing residents of Msunduza, Mbabane at Emntulwini yesterday when he made the clarification.
OK Foods will next week Thursday open a branch at Msunduza.
Motsa was introduced to the community together with his business associates, including the co-owner of Solanis, Celucolo ‘Chester’ Nxumalo, who is the developer of the property to house Msunduza OK Foods.
This was the first time Motsa openly addressed the issue, which had been circulating on social media platforms since the civil unrest last year in July.
He set the record straight that he and his wife were co-directors of two registered companies, Linac Investments and Linac Enterprises and said anyone who doubted this could investigate that he does not have business dealings with the royal family in OK Foods.
According to Motsa, he was a victim just like other certain businesses who were targeted because they were suspected to be linked to the royal family or owned by royalty.
He said his businesses were not spared from arson attacks, vandalism and looting which engulfed the country.
“Today I want to say to Msunduza folk, the allegations that within OK Food the country’s authorities either have shares or the Motsa family is a front for their business, are false. Hear it from us the owners of the business.
The business belongs to the Motsa family. Together with my wife, we are the directors of the company,” he said.
Motsa said because of the allegations, six OK Foods were targeted and destroyed, which cost him financially.
He said he started his business from humble beginnings and worked his way up to being the self-made businessman that he is.
Further, he said his family was left to face the damage these allegations had caused.
He did not hide that despite the losses he incurred, he did not get any assistance for the rehabilitation of the targeted shops.
Had it not been for passion that drove him not to give up, Motsa said these losses would have resulted in a number of jobs being lost.
According to the Msunduza central committee Chairperson, Dumisa Zwane, the OK Foods outlet would be situated at the complex, which used to be known as Timele next to Solanis.
Motsa told the Msunduza community that the shop would be the eighth OK Food outlet in the country, adding that there were also six OK Liquor shops.
He said unlike other shops, the business strategy was to expand these outlets within the outskirts of the central business districts of cities and towns.
About 40 jobs have been created.
There are also opportunities for businesses, whereby the local farmers and suppliers could supply the shop, it was stated.
The shop Manager, Samkelo Brown, said the shop would also bring about social corporate responsibility initiatives and urged for support from the community.
“Go into the shop. Support more so that there is even more development and social corporate responsibility,” he said.
Zwane called on those targeting the shops to stop, urging the community to protect the shop by all means necessary.
He said with the scarcity of jobs, the committee would play a role in assuring that first preferences for jobs was given to the Msunduza people.
He urged job seekers from the community to start dropping their applications to the committee.
Zwane said no application would be made directly at the shop, but would be received by the committee at Emntulwini, which they would then submit to OK Foods.
The committee, Zwane said, was tasked with the responsibility of receiving and vetting the applications to ensure fairness.
This was meant to ensure that the recruited staff was the reflection of the sects living at Msunduza, including areas from Macobolwane, PTS, Corporation, Mntulwini, Corinte and Gobholo.
Some community members thanked the development and said it would reduce poverty as well as transportation costs as shoppers would not have to travel to the city to do their shopping.
They were also of the idea that it would reduce crime in the area as more people would be employed.
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