Africa-Press – Eswatini. The problems engulfing the Eswatini National Petroleum Company (ENPC) will have been sorted by the time the E5.2 billion for the Strategic Oil Reserve is secured.
This was said by Lobamba Lomdzala Member of Parliament (MP) Marwick Khumalo on May 27, 2025 in the House of Assembly. He was responding to concerned aired by his fellow MPs during an intense debate on the Strategic Oil Reserve project.
Khumalo was motivating the MPs to support the project by adopting a report from the Ministry of Finance Portfolio Committee in the House of Assembly and for further support in passing the Loan Bill that would authorise Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg to secure the money from the Export Import Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan).
While the debate was ongoing, most of the MPs expressed concerns about the problems said to be engulfing Eswatini National Petroleum Company (ENPC). The ENPC is the one that will administer the fund and the entire project. The company will also be the one that will pay back the loan.
Siphofaneni MP Nomalungelo Simelane was the first among the MPs to question the state of ENPC. She wondered if the MPs were the ones saying the money should be administered by a company that had an acting CEO and many other questionable acts said to be happening in that company.
Ntondozi MP Peter Vulinjini Ngwenya also expressed his fear, wondering if the House would be making the right decision by giving money to a company that needed to sort its house. Mhlambanyatsi MP Dr Bonginkosi Dlamini also pleaded for all problems regarding the projects to be sorted before the fund was secured so that the project could go smoothly.
Nhlambeni MP Manzi Zwane mentioned that he was informed of a recruitment process that was going on to replace ENPC CEO. He suggested that the recruitment process should be suspended so that the Auditor General could be given an opportunity to investigate the possibilities of any financial incompetence.
Khumalo assured the MPs that by the time money was secured, all of the problems would have been solved at ENPC. Khumalo did inform the MPs that when they discussed the matter during their Portfolio Committee meetings, they informed Government of their concerns regarding ENPC. He said they stated that they could not give such a huge amount of money to an acting CEO. He also mentioned that they could not have problems with the fact that investigations were being made at ENPC, but they should be made by an independent body, such as the Auditor General.
Khumalo said despite all of the problems, Government assured them that by the time the money was secured, all problems would be sorted at ENPC. That was the reason why he pleaded with his fellow MPs to have faith in this project and pass the Loan Bill.
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