Africa-Press – Eswatini. Civil servants are making big business of abandoned government houses in Manzini, refurbishing these for rental purposes, in what has become a serious concern to members of the public.
In some cases, it has been claimed that some of these houses are refurbished then sold to unsuspecting members of the public desperate to own property.
If they are not rehabilitating the houses, any material that is found to be worth saving is looted and sold, for civil servants to make quick money, while sources said there were instances where these were taken to their own homes.
This was revealed during an investigation by this publication, which has uncovered that government is losing a lot of money in the property market from its employees who are taking advantage of the dilapidated structures.
Sources close to the matter have revealed that civil servants are targeting the abandoned government houses that have been neglected from as far back as 2012.
It has been alleged that a full background check is then conducted, to ascertain the status of the houses, to determine government’s interest in that property.
The next step is for the culprits to take over the property, posing as government officials mandated to refurbish the property.
This allows the civil servant to carry out their plan, conducting the renovations for purposes of leasing the houses or in some cases, sell it.
In other instances, according to the sources, unsuspecting members of the public are offered the opportunity to buy the houses on the cheap, on the basis that they will have to do their own refurbishing.
“They would deceive their clients that government was no longer interested in the houses, since they were dilapidated and therefore, they would make them believe that since they were authorised to monitor the structures they (houses) have been freely given to them to by government to use them as they please, hence they opted to sell them to whosesoever was willing to buy them,” alleged the sources.
The sources alleged that the civil servants would make their clients sign fraudulent documents to authenticate the sale or rental of the houses and make it look like it was legit.
Some government houses in Manzini are without corrugated iron sheets and doors after they were allegedly looted by the civil servants. Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development Dr Simon Zwane said the ministry did not own government houses.
He said the ministry only owns the land upon which the houses were built. Zwane further stated that historically, government houses were constructed and or renovated by the ministry of public works and transport and then allocated to deserving civil servants by the ministry of public service.
“Of late, you will recall that Micro -Projects has been used in the construction and or refurbishment of government buildings. As a ministry we are not sure of the arrangement to that effect,” he said.
Zwane said in light of this, his ministry was not aware of the allegations and could not respond on matters relating to government housing as this was not their responsibility.
When the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service Sipho Tsabedze was reached, he said the ministry was not aware of any renovations of abandoned government houses in Manzini.
“We will investigate the matter to find out what is happening there,” he said. Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Public Works and Transport Thulani Mkhaliphi promised to send a team to check what was happening at the said government houses today.
This, he said, was because the ministry of public works and transport was supposed to know who were occupying the government houses at any given moment in time.
Micro-Projects, through its Director Sibusiso Mbingo, also stated that they were not aware of any renovations of government houses in Manzini, neither have they been tasked to undertake any.
Houses turned
into sex dens
Used condoms, packets of morning after pills and other items can be found in some of the dilapidated government houses in Manzini.
This has laid credence to the claims that these houses have been turned into sex dens. Government workers and residents residing next to the compounds are complaining about the use of the property for in sexual activities. The residents, who preferred to comment on condition of anonymity, said the discarded material was a concern as children also had access to these houses.
A government employee, who chose to comment on condition of anonymity, said the property has been abandoned by government since 2012.
He pointed out that sometimes they made fires to try and destroy the items as they were a health hazard to their children.
“This also is a health risk to us as most of the used items, such as condoms and tissues contain human body fluids,” said the resident.
The residents pointed out that different cars pulled up at the premises of the abandoned houses from about midnight for the sexual escapades.
“They either get out of the cars and into the houses or they do it inside the cars. We are too scared to chase them away because some of them may be armed,’ said te resident. Another civil servant said government must install a security gate which would deter the couples from using the government houses as a sex den.
Market vendors, members of the public, and some police officers, confirmed that the houses were used for such shenanigans or shady dealings.
“Each night, women are seen making their way to the houses with customers who always park their vehicles at the yard,” one woman who has a stall near one of the houses said.
Another confirmed that the structures have been abandoned for a year now, hence sex workers utilised it to ply their trade.
“If these structures belong to government, why are they not being utilised?” others were heard wondering. Meanwhile, some people have revealed that contacting the police was fruitless, as sex workers returned regardless of the number of times they got arrested or disciplined by law enforcers.
Source: observer
For More News And Analysis About Eswatini Follow Africa-Press
