Africa-Press – Eswatini. National Emergency Response Council on HIV and AIDS (NERCHA) National Executive Director, Khanya Mabuza, is the new Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Health, replacing Dr Simon Zwane, who has been transferred to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.
Dr Zwane, who held the position of Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Health since 2014, will occupy the same position in the housing ministry.
Makhosi Simelane, who kept the fires burning at the housing ministry as acting principal secretary, returns to his position of Under Secretary-Technical in the same ministry.
Announcing the changes, which are with effect from Tuesday, Prime Minister, Cleopas Dlamini, said these were implemented in accordance with Section 76 of the Constitution of the kingdom of Eswatini, which states that the King shall appoint principal secretaries on a renewable five-year contract on the advice of the Civil Service Commission (CSC).
Dlamini said Mabuza, who holds a Master’s degree in Public Health Administration and has a wealth of experience with over 25 years in the public health sector, was appointed the National Executive Director of NERCHA in 2013 by government.
According to the premier, Mabuza worked for the United Nations office in the country as assistant country representative for a number of years.
“Mabuza is a public health specialist and demonstrated high level of capabilities when he worked for NERCHA.
He cemented high profile international relations and was able to mobilise funds for the local office,” said the prime minister.
He said they hoped that Mabuza would take with him the amount of experience and capacity to his new assignment. Adding, the premier highlighted that they were still to discuss filling the vacancy Mabuza left at NERCHA as they were caught off-guard about the changes.
Dlamini said they would engage with the board to start looking for a suitable candidate to take over the position.
Dr Zwane before his appointment in 2014, he was the Senior Medical Officer (SMO) at Mankayane Government Hospital.
He succeeded his colleague in the profession Dr Steven Shongwe, who resigned from the civil service.
Minister of Health, Lizzie Nkosi, said they were happy to have worked with Dr Zwane for the past five years, adding that it was normal government procedure for principal secretaries to be changed after every five years.
The minister said they had a good working relationship with Dr Zwane and they highly recommend him to wherever he was going to work.
“This is a normal government procedure and there is nothing more we can say about that as it is not within the minister’s remit.
I will also like to thank Dr Zwane for our cooperation as we worked together and we are the only ministry that did not change a principal secretary within the five years,” Nkosi said.
She also thanked Mabuza’s appointment, saying he was someone with vast health knowledge and experience.
“We are really grateful as he is not someone who is completely without health knowledge,” she said.
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