By Zweli Martin Dlamini

MBABANE:Paul Dlamini,the Chairman of the Liqoqo King’s Advisory Council says former Senator Ndileka Dlamini’s Vuvulane eState issue has been clarified by Banele Nyamane, the Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of the Eswatini Sugar.

Speaking to this Swaziland News on Wednesday morning, the King’s Principal Adviser said, he was surprised to read the article where the former Senator was personally accusing him of interfering in the multimillion sugar eState yet “the matter is before the King’s Advisory Council” not him.

“I was surprised to read the story in the Swaziland News ngatibuta kutsi loku siyatana kakhulu nawe Dlamini awusangitfoli njani ngitewuphendvula kodvwa loku sewushito kutsi awungitfolanga kuleya nombolo. Lendzaba lena ayisiyo yami yelibandla sekute lengingakusho, sebayicacisile baka-Shukela”, said the Chairman of the King’s Advisory Council.

On another note, Banele Nyamane, the Eswatini Sugar Chief Executive Officer defended the traditional authorities including the Office of the Regional Administrator(RA) and Liqoqo King’s Advisory Council amid family disputes involving sugar farmers.

This comes after this publication reported that, former Senator Ndileka Dlamini is involved in a dispute with the family of her husband over the ownership of a Farm but it later transpired that the Farm “is actually owned by Ndileka Dlamini’s father-in-law(Babetala) Titus Dlamini not her husband hence other family members are entitled to a share of the multimillion sugar cane sales.

Liqoqo Chairman Chairman Paul Dlamini is alleged to have written a letter to the Royal Eswatini Sugar Corporation(REScorp) suspending the payment pending finalizing of the matter after other family members, children and grandchildren of the late Titus Dlamini complained that, Makoti Ndileka Dlamini was grabbing a family property that does not belong to her husband.

Responding to this Swaziland News earlier, the Eswatini Sugar CEO said, some farmers are using Farms owned by families and once they die, disputes would then erupt triggering the intervention of traditional authorities.

“The common thread of the disputes that increasing, is when the deceased was married. As most of these cane growing areas are on Swazi Nation Land, the disputes arise on who should be the rightful successor as there are different rules between civil and Customary Marriages. The family members end up taking the matters to various structures, including traditional. The common rulings are the industry being instructed to withhold payments to the grower whilst the matters are being adjudicated so that the complainants are not prejudiced”, said the Eswatini Sugar CEO.

It has been clarified that, Liqoqo Chairman Paul Dlamini “does not have any interest to grab the project for personal gain” as alleged by former Senator Ndileka Dlamini.

But, the letter suspending the payment pending the finalization of the matter was written by the Liqoqo Chairman as per the procedure seeking to ensure that, all beneficiaries of the Farm including children of the late Titus Dlamini receive a share and that, “the rightful administrator of the Farm who will then distribute the money equally to the other beneficiaries, is appointed by the family”.