Africa-Press – Eswatini. Members of Parliament (MP) have accused the principal secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Public Service of altering his date of birth three times.
It was alleged that the PS has three dates of birth – 1963, 1965 and 1967. The PS in the ministry of Public Service is Sipho Tsabedze, although the MPs did not mention his name.
The allegations were made yesterday, when the MPs debated a report tabled by the Minister of Public Service, Mabulala Maseko, last Thursday. The debated report was the second to be tabled by the minister after he withdrew the first report. The report was a response to a private member’s motion, moved by Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo and seconded by Mayiwane MP Sicelo Dlamini.
The MPs moved that the minister for Public Service should engage the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to investigate the growing and prevalent trend of public servants, who resort to altering their dates of birth, either midway through their tenure of employment or towards reaching retirement age. The minister was given 14 days to table a report before the House.
Before the report was rejected, the Mayiwane MP said he was unsure if he was satisfied with the report and revealed that the PS had changed his retirement age three times. This was after Minister Mabulala, in his preamble to the debate, explained to the legislators that they were against the altering of dates of birth, as older people above the age of 60 should retire from the service.
Effective
The minister noted that the motion called for the engagement of the CSC, but the minister said it would have been proper and more effective if the motion included the Teaching Service Commission (TSC), Judiciary Service Commission (JSC), and Parliamentary Service Board because the CSC carries a portion of civil servants. “The rot could come from all these commissions,” he said. Maseko said the way the motion was crafted limited the scope of work because there was a likelihood that from workers hired by the public service through CSC, there could be two or no workers who altered their date of birth to shift their retirement date.
The minister further mentioned that he met with CSC and they have a meeting scheduled for today. Maseko clarified that the function of altering a date of birth rested with the Ministry of Public Service through the PS. He said that was according to General Order 9.2. The minister said Section 186 Constitution of Eswatini might state that the powers to hire and promote civil servants rested with the CSC, but there were enabling legislations, such as regulations and government standing orders, that grant the PS the power to do so. He, however, stated that the CSC was also within the public service, therefore, he had no problem engaging with them.
Mayiwane MP cited General Order 635 which states that an officer’s date of birth that would be acceptable by the government as a true date of birth is the date the officer wrote on first appointment. If the office decides to furnish an affidavit with the purpose of amending the original date of birth the CSC Board, PS and Ministry of Public Service shall not accept. The MP said the minister may try to defend this but the writing was clear.
Notified
“Per issue should go via the CSC and the attorney general should be notified for the matter to be decided by the court. Over 246 have been approved to be ‘born again’. Do not go against the general order,” he said. The MP said what was even more confusing was that the minister emphasised that the PS is the one who is supposed to have the powers to grant the alteration, yet the very same PS is rumoured to have altered his date of birth to shift his retirement years. “It is a known issue that the PS is one of the people conflicted in this matter. At first, he was supposed to retire in 2023 changed to 2025, as it stands it is said his new retirement year is 2027. Therefore, he cannot be approved hence the CSC should be involved,” he said.
The MP added that after the PS successfully altered his date of birth three times, he opened the floodgates, as the number of civil servants who altered their ages increased. “In the last three years the altering of dates of births increased by 58 per cent with 84 requested in 2023 to 2024,” he said. Ngudzeni MP Charles Ndlovu questioned the minister if he could tell the House the exact date of birth of the PS. Before he could complete his question the MPs were in stitches. He said the PS had three dates of birth; one in 1963, 1965 and 1967.
Precedence
“There is information that he changed his dates of birth two times; was the CSC involved in this? Is the minister aware that there is precedence in terms of court judgments related to altering of dates of birth,” he asked. He further asked if the minister was aware that there was legal advice from the AG’s office that related to the matter of the PS. Ndlovu questioned if the PS was still occupying the office legally, since he had three files with different years of birth. Lobamba Lomdzala MP noted that when they moved the motion almost a month ago, the minister seemed geared up to carry out the exercise. He said, after his preamble, he was confused that he wanted more people on board, but he only communicated it yesterday rather than the day he accepted the motion.
“We know that the CSC hires civil servants and the law considers the date of birth registering with the CSC hence it cannot be irrelevant,” he said. Khumalo said at face value, that the tone of the responses in the report tabled by the minister was too defensive. The MP said it was clear that the minister was not the one who prepared the report, but it was prepared by someone who was conflicted. “I can see that the write-up is so defensive and it is not the minister who wrote here,” he said.
Passed
“We cannot accept what the minister is telling us, as the Statute, that was passed by the Parliament says something else,” he added.He said Cabinet should not overlook the Statute and Parliament was there to ensure just that. In response, the minister read General Order 92 which states that the power to wave or vary any particular general order shall be vested in the PS of the Minister of Public Service. “It would be bad if the PS also changes his date of birth, but I do not think so,” he said. He said the orders mentioned that if the PS is conflicted, he or she would delegate the powers to sign to the under secretary (US). “It is what it is, whether it is incorrect or not,” he said.
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