Africa-Press – Eswatini. Mbuyazwe Dlamini, an employee of the Eswatini Broadcasting and Information Services(EBIS) who is responsible for ensuring that, King Mswati has a proper sound system when addressing the Nation allegedly clashed with Home Affairs Minister Princess Lindiwe, a few days before the King’s Birthday Celebration.
This was during a stakeholder meeting where the Home Affairs Minister was receiving an update in the midst of the preparations of the event that was held in Nhlangano. She asked Mbuyazwe Dlamini to address the stakeholders meeting and confirm if the sound system was ready for the ‘important day’ but, Dlamini responded with anger saying; “buta le-JC yakho lodla nayo timali talama-tender ungibutani mine?”.
The tension erupted after the Home Affairs Minister allegedly grabbed all multimillion tenders for the King’s Birthday and, awarded same to her alleged corrupt syndicate with links to the Jesus Calls Worship Centre(JCWC).
The name of the company that was awarded the multimillion tenders by the Home Affairs Minister without following Government tendering procedures is known to this publication but, will not be revealed for now as this might jeopardize another investigation.
But after being blasted by Mbuyane Dlamini during the meeting, the Home Affairs Minister subsequently pleaded with the stakeholders not to take what Mbuyane Dlamini said seriously describing Dlamini a known ‘wayward’ child of the royal family.
“Ningalunaki luhlanya lwalakhaya boNkhosi, asichubekeni nemhlangano”, the Minister said according to information leaked to this publication.
When the press contacted the Home Affairs Minister for a comment, she avoided questions regarding the matter.
It has been disclosed that, stakeholders and other local companies who were benefiting through tenders during the King’s Birthday, rushed to report the Home Affairs Minister to Neal Rijikernberg, the Minister of Finance who subsequently wrote a ‘hot’ letter to the Princess.
“It has been observed that, your Ministry conducts procurement through an agent or third party. This practice is contrary to the public procurement principles as stated in the Procurement Act 2011. This is tantamount to discrimination of suppliers. The restriction of procurement of activities for national events to one service provider is strictly prohibited,”reads the letter in part.
Efforts to reach Acting Government Spokesperson Thabile Mdluli proved unsuccessful at the time of compiling this report.
Responding on Monday afternoon, King Mswati’s Spokesperson said, he was not aware of the alleged conflict that erupted ahead of the King’s Birthday.
Simelane said, King’s Birthday Celebrations and othe National events are within the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Home Affairs not his Office and therefore, he wouldn’t be privy to such information.
“National events,including the King’s Birthday are prepared for by Government, the Home Affairs Ministry in particular and it’s not every detail that the King’s Office is privy to. We are therefore not aware there was infighting within Government involving tenders. We are blank too with regards to the alleged hot letter from Finance Minister to his Home Affairs counterpart,” said the King’s Spokesperson.
Reached for comments on Monday evening, Johannes Manikela, the Business Federation of Eswatini(BFE) Head of Trade and Investment, applauded the Finance Minister for taking action to promote fairness in the awarding of Government tenders.
Manikela said, the demand for transparency and accountability by the Finance Minister demonstrates that, Rijikernberg subscribes to good governance principles and, wants other companies to benefit from Government tenders.
“As SMEs we are very happy to note that,the Finance Minister is taking action and that, he is concerned about us as small businesses. It’s true that, some local companies have closed because of this corruption, money is not circulating in the country as only a few are benefiting from Government tenders. If there are projects, let us share the money through the fair distribution of the tenders but the Finance Minister must investigate even other Ministries,” said the Business Federation of Eswatini Head of Trade and Investment.
For More News And Analysis About Eswatini Follow Africa-Press
