Africa-Press – Eswatini. SwaziMed Board members have signed a petition, vigorously demanding an urgent meeting amid reports alleging looting of millions of public funds within the country’s largest medical scheme.
This comes after publishing an article, exposing the alleged looting of the public funds and, how Chief Executive Officer(CEO) Peter Simelane attempted to remove Board member Sibusiso Nhleko who demanded accountability of the alleged missing millions.
Simelane is alleged to be colluding with Board Chairman Sammy Dlamini in the alleged looting while avoiding Board meetings seeking to address critical issues within the country’s medical scheme.
But correspondence seen by this publication suggests that, both Peter Simelane and Chairman Sammy Dlamini would call meetings and then cancel on the eleventh hour just to frustrate and delay the process of holding the SwaziMed Chief Executive Officer accountable.
This time, the CEO who doubles as the Chairman of the Football Association(FA) summoned a meeting knowing that, he will then fly to Egypt for a football meeting while Board Chairman Sammy Dlamini subsequently disappeared and is reportedly ‘in hiding’ avoiding the Board meeting.
But now, the Board members decided to sign the petition informing the Chairman that, “should he fail to summon a meeting on the 18th March 2025,they will proceed and take resolutions or decisions to save SwaziMed from collapsing.
Board Chairman Sammy Dlamini is alleged to have made an excuse this week, saying a meeting that was to be held on Tuesday saying he wanted to meet Health Minister Mduduzi Matsebula first to discuss the issues at SwaziMed.
“The Chairman cited the Minister of Health’s request for a meeting following a publication on 11 March 2025 as the reason for the cancellation.However, the Chairman failed to adequately explain why this request warranted the cancellation of a scheduled Board meeting at such short notice.Despite protests by the undersigned Directors, the Chairman refused to proceed with the meeting as planned,” reads the petition in part dated 13th March 2025.
CEO Peter Simelane who had earlier declined to comment when reached by this publication, subsequently approached the Times and Observer and paid more than twenty-thousand Rands(R20,000.00) public funds for a statement, he then urged journalists of both newspapers to defend corruption allegations at SwaziMed.
Board Chairman Sammy Dlamini earlier told this publication that, the issues within SwaziMed were being addressed internally.
But information subsequently emerged suggesting that, the Board Chairman was allegedly complicit in preventing Board meetings seeking to demand accountability while on the other hand, the alleged looting of millions continues uncontrolled, at SwaziMed.
“We therefore request the Chairman to promptly summon the meeting for 18 March 2025 at 5:30 PM at the Hilton Hotel in Mbabane. Should the Chairman fail to summon the petitioned meeting, we, the undersigned Directors, hereby notify all Directors of SwaziMed as copied on this petition that the meeting shall proceed in the absence of the Chairman,” reads the petition in part.
The Board members who petitioned the Chairman and determined to demand accountability of the public funds amid alleged corruption at SwaziMed include Sibusiso Nhleko, the Eswatini MTN Head of Corporate Services, Leonard Nxumalo, Bheki Maziya, Vusi Khumalo, Mzwandile Magagula and Edward Sithole.
For More News And Analysis About Eswatini Follow Africa-Press
