Africa-Press – Eswatini. The Federation of Eswatini Business Community’s (FESBC) ‘fact-finding mission’ or ‘audit plan’ has been turned down by the Royal Eswatini Sugar Corporation (RES Corp).
FESBC had initially written a letter to RES Corp management requesting the company to avail the relevant management team for the scheduled fact-finding mission covering the business units under RES Corp. In the letter, FESBC Head of Transformation Mavela Sigwane stated that this exercise was aimed at levelling the ground in the trading space and preventig conflicts which had a potential of getting out of hand. He said it was one of the fundamental principles of good governance in the private sector-led economy, which was a strategic drive for the country towards alleviating poverty and unemployment rate as outlined in the government strategy documents.
Complaints
He highlighted that FESBC was in receipt of a number of complaints from their members in terms of the unfair treatment they were given by organisations like RES Corp in the trading spaces. Upon writing the letter, RES Corp responded and turned FESBC down, mentioning that such would not be entertained at RES Corp. In an interview with this publication, Group Public Affairs Manager of RES Corp Sifiso Nyembe said they received a notification that FESBC had an ‘audit plan’ that they wanted to execute at RES on July 18. “We turned them down because this was a peculiar request. It is also unclear to us what the terms of reference of this mission are and where they derive their mandate,” said Nyembe. He said in the normal course of business, basic courtesy dictates that if there were grievances, they should at least be given the opportunity to address them.
The manager said they were an organisation that believed in and subscribes to honest engagement. He said they felt that FESBC and the 21-person ‘fact-finding’ group have missed a crucial step, if the intention was to truly engage and resolve any issues they might have with RES Corp. He said they were also unaware of the issues that have necessitated the setting up of the FESBC ‘Fact-finding’ mission. He said the individual businesses who have supposedly complained to FESBC could have brought the complains to RES Corp and sought resolution. “We are open to honest engagement as a way to resolve issues with all our stakeholders,” said Nyembe.
Address
When asked how best could FESBC address issues other than the intended ‘fact-finding mission, Nyembe said they were extending an invitation to the companies or entities that have complaints to table them before RES Corp, whatever these issues may be and give RES Corp an opportunity to respond before referring this elsewhere. “We honestly believe that this doesn’t require 21 people who are outside of the organisation before it can have a chance to resolve the complaints,” said Nyembe. He said they were many platforms on which grievances of any nature could be brought to the attention of RES Corp, and RES Corp afforded the opportunity to address them, as opposed to scandalising the company with bare allegations that had no facts whatsoever.
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