Africa-Press – Eswatini. SENATORS have revealed that they also want other public officials to declare their assets just like they (senators) are expected to.
They have questioned why they were the only ones forced to declare assets and not the rest of the officers who were exposed to handling government matters.
The senators said this yesterday during their workshop on the declaration of assets in the House of Senate conducted by the Commission on Human Rights and Public Administration/Integrity.
The declaration of assets is according to Section 241 of the Constitution of Eswatini Act no 1 of 2005.
“A person who holds an office mentioned in subsection (2) shall submit to the Integrity Commission, a written declaration of assets owned by, or any benefit gained or any liabilities owned by the holder of that office whether directly or indirectly,” reads the constitution in part.
It added that these people had to declare assets including immovable property, motor vehicles, and livestock, estimated value like jewellery, investments, businesses and liabilities.
The declaration of assets was part of the principles that the senators were taught about yesterday, which the commission said would mitigate the use of the office and power in their conflict of interest.
The senators asked why the net was not widening to other parastatals in terms of declaring assets because there were many people who had accumulated wealth in the country.
The senators were directing these questions to the Human Rights Commission and Public Administration/ Integrity, which is a committee formed in accordance with the constitution as per Section 163.
“When perusing Section 164 of the constitution, it highlights the operations of the committee, which is categorised into four categories,” said Nelisiwe Zwane, the Acting Executive Secretary of the commission.
Senator Isaac Magagula asked about the certain categories that needed to declare their assets just like they were also expected to. He asked how wide or narrow the net was.
“Are the criminals the ones that are here that need to be monitored or not. I think those are the people monitored because maybe they do not want rich people in high positions, are the rich people among these only?” he asked.
Magagula asked if the net was safely placed and could not be widened to accommodate other people who were exposed to handling government issues, but were not part of those forced to declare assets.
He further said people could come to them and claim they had money while they did not.
Support
In support, Senator Tony Sibandze said there was so much wealth among individuals in the country. He said there was accumulation of wealth mainly by public officials, which was unaccounted for.
“There is no accountability at all. I am not saying public officials should not accumulate wealth because the country tells us to work and invest in the right places, but here I am declaring because this is a ministry that says all members should declare assets and private liabilities,” he said.
Sibandze said they declared assets upon being ushered into Parliament, but asked what the commission did five years later when they had accumulated 20 times more of what they declared.
“What do you do in that case? How close is the commission to these issues? I am not talking about parliamentarians only, but there are people in the offices who are still public officials. There are those who have been in the office for the longest time and when you observe them, you see that they have a lot of money, which I would work 15 years for it,” he said.
Sibandze highlighted that some of them might be working parliamentarians and further owned businesses, but both or more of these things combined would not give them the wealth that those in the offices and serving as civil servants had accumulated.
“My question is that as much as you want us to help you, assist us. If this wealth was transferred to government, the country would develop and become stable,” he said.
Meanwhile, Magagula highlighted that the questions that they were asking the Human Rights Commission were not to offend them, but to help them grow.
“The law that you want us to help you with, you should include the things that we raise here so that we do not sound as if we are interrogating you,” he said.On that note, Deputy Commissioner Duduzile Nhlengetfwa said the constitution allows them to extend the inclusion of other people in the declaration of assets.
She said there were those who were listed in the constitution and they once sat down and wondered as a commission why under-secretaries, directors and others who were in parastatals did not declare their assets.
“These are part of the things that go hand in hand with the law from Parliament that needs to give us the power. Even now nothing hinders us from doing it because it is in the constitution,” she said.
Have you engaged ‘commander’ about the unrest – Chief Zabeni
Chief Zabeni Shiba asked the Human Rights Commission whether it has ever engaged the self-proclaimed commander Thabo Kunene on why he was intimidating people.
This was during the workshop that senators had at Senate yesterday on declaration of assets.
Shiba said the commission reported that they sometimes get reports or they go and investigate on their own, highlighting that Emaswati were once abused previously, whereby a person told them that there was no one who was expected to report to work and they did just that.
“I don’t know if you are working and whom you have reported to that you have once called the commander and asked him why he was intimidating the nation or you were working and not telling anyone,” he said.
Kunene, the self-proclaimed commander, is currently in jail after being arrested by the police in June, 2023 along the borderline in South Africa. Kunene was alleged to be amongst the group believed to have carried out terrorist activities in the country and was made known by the public on social media. Shiba said the commission had been around for the longest time and asked what prevented it from asking parliament to enact laws to give them the power. Shiba appreciated that the commission was talking about rights and asked why those who were in prison were denied their conjugal rights.
Implement
“The last time I heard about this, there was a law that was to be implemented for those in prison to be visited by their spouses,” he said.
Meanwhile, Senator Isaac Magagula asked what the committee was doing so that one person could not trespass into another person’s jurisdiction. He asked how the issues reached the commission and how they were addressed.
Magagula said the way that the executive secretary was speaking showed that their work was commendable.
He said this was especially on the issue of being human rights protectors, which calls for them to be ombudsmen.“Are you doing your job because it looks like you are invisible?
Meanwhile, Human Rights Deputy Commissioner Duduzile Nhlengetfwa said they currently did not have the website where they used to release reports on such issues due to funds. She said they visited correctional service centres every year and released reports.
“There is one report that we are working on that involves the commander and the others he was with. They are complaining about the living conditions that they deal with where they are,” she said.
She said they considered every human when they dealt with rights despite what they had done. Nhlengetfwa added that they did not trespass because they did not deal with cases that were being attended to by other committees.
“An issue can be with other committees and get delayed, which is when we take our stand of being the public protector and ask what causes the delay and why people are not being taken to court. We do not ask why the person has been arrested, but we look at the process to speed up justice,” she said.
She said they were looking at the balanced approach.
Commission has no commissioner, cars, fuel
The Human Rights Commission only has Duduzile Nhlengetfwa as the deputy commissioner.
This was revealed by acting Executive Secretary of the commission Nelisiwe Zwane who said Nhlengetfwa was moving up and down daily to enable the success of the commission.
“She is always moving around as there is no other commissioner to assist her,” she said.
The secretary added that they were also understaffed while their mandate was huge. The former commissioner of the commission was Judge Sabelo Masuku.“The budget is our main issue, we are aware that it is not only affecting us but other ministries. We do not have cars and our results are not visible because there is no fuel and cars to assist us move around,” she said.
Zwane said the commission was established by His Majesty King Mswati III with recommendations of the JSC. She said there needed to be a commissioner in the committee and two deputies so that they could start working. “We have four categories, including human rights, public administration, corruption and the integrity commission, which is what has brought us to the house. In the human rights, the committee looks at areas where there are people who are being abused,” she said.
Meanwhile Deputy Commissioner Duduzile Nhlengetfwa said they were being motivated by the senators and hoped they would continue working. She said her office had less or limited staff but they were working effortlessly in order to be productive.
No enabling legislation for commission
The Human Rights Commission has raised the challenge of not having an enabling legislation to give them power to fully execute their duties.
This was revealed by Acting Executive Secretary of the Commission Nelisiwe Zwane, who said this was one of the challenges that they faced because they still did not have a law that gives them the power to work.
“It does not give us the details on when to work, how and where. We have the power to issue out subpoenas, but we have not been told when to issue them and how even when we have made the recommendations,” she said. Senator Linda Nxumalo asked how far the Commission had gone in terms of the legislation because they would not work well without power.
“If the legislations existed, the problems that we have would be minimised,” said Senator Sigombeni Dlamini.
Senator Tony Sibandze asked how they could assist the committee because when the Constitution was drafted, it was for governance and peace.
He said the laws that were operational were passed in Parliament, adding that it was important that they visit them in Parliament to address the issue.
In response, Human Rights Commission Deputy Commissioner Duduzile Nhlengetfwa said the bill once reached Parliament, but claimed there were those who wanted to be in power, but did not want to be governed.
She said it was challenging for them and asked the senators to assist them.
“The way that you handle yourself should maintain your status.
Parliamentarians are people who should not have fault, the two bills are coming because they all make up the commission,” she said.
Are we supposed to also declare our wives- Senator Chief Mvimbi
In a strange but important issue, Senator Chief Mvimbi Matse has asked the Commission on Human Rights and Public Administration /Integrity whether they were also expected to declare their wives in the form that they were given or not.
This question cracked up attendants at Senate which according to the commission, the senators were expected to declare their spouses as well as.
Senator Stukie Motsa also asked the commission what they were looking at in private assets and value. She wondered if they were allowed to declare assets that they were not under their under names.
The senators were told that they were not expected to declare assets that were not under their names.
More land disputes reported
The Human Rights Commission is often flooded with complaints about land disputes.
Per week, the commission registers three or more cases.
This was revealed by acting Executive Secretary of the commission Nelisiwe Zwane, who said this was happening in farms and on Eswatini Nation Land.
She said they were also receiving complaints about cases that were not proceeding in courts of families engaged in land disputes.
She said they had received many cases about inheritance and some of these cases had appeared before the commission.
Structures
Zwane said people were complaining about their structures being destroyed due to development taking place in their areas.
“Some of them are being moved from their land unfairly and some go the extent of complaining about their family graveyards.
‘‘People are also complaining about Ndabazabantu and the regional officers, not forgetting chiefs implying that their cases which were being attended to by them were not proceeeding.
They sometimes complain that they are not attended to and their sentences are not in writing,” she said.
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