MBABANE:King Mswati’s mother Queen Ntombi Tfwala is allegedly shocked by leaked audio released by Swaziland News where Education and Training Minister Owen Nxumalo’s was literally mentioning her name as being behind the attempt to influence the Eswatini Medical Christian University(EMCU) Governing Board to re-employ eighty(80) year-old Samuel S. Vilakati as the Executive Director.
Royal insiders told this Swaziland News that, the Queen Mother was shocked to learn from this publication that, the Education and Training Minister was mentioning her name in an audio when in fact, she knew nothing about the subject matter and as a result, Owen Nxumalo might be summoned to explain the circumstances surrounding the alleged royal order.
It is alleged that, the royal order was communicated to the Education Minister and Training Minister by the Queen Ntombi Tfwala’s right-hand man Mavovo Mkhonto who has been exposed several times “abusing the Queen Mother’s name”.
But it remains unclear if the Queen Mother did not issue the alleged order as the Education Minister was heard vigorously speaking with confidence and emphasizing that, the royal command could be confirmed by the EMCU Governing Board with the Queen through what is culturally known as “kubonga eMakhosini”.
But King Mswati’s Spokesperson Percy Simelane who doubles as the Spokesperson for the Queen Mother described the Education and Training Minister’s leaked audio “as very unfortunate”, he denied knowledge of the alleged order adding that, the outburst came as a surprise.
“We have no record of the command by Indlovukazi in our latest updates. The outburst therefore came as a surprise. We chose to wait until those who know what exactly happened come out clear. It would be very unfortunate if the alleged command is all fluke. We will continue to expect responsible behavior when it comes to issues pertaining to every soul around us, let alone the country’s leadership.The tongue has no bone but can break a heart. Once words have been said, they have a life of their own. The sooner the air is cleared responsibly, the better,” said the King’s Spokesperson.
Education and Training Minister Owen Nxumalo claimed to be acting on a royal command from Indlovukazi when attempting to force the Christian University Governing Board to violate the provisions of the Public Enterprises Control and Monitoring Act and re-employ elderly S.S Vilakati.
Worth-noting, Executive Director Samuel S. Vilakati as he then was, faced allegations of corruption and/or was implicated in the disappearance of millions of public funds within the State owned institution of higher learning.
The current Governing Board had managed to rescue the once financially struggling Christian University when the Education Minister emerged ‘from no-where’ and attempted to impose the elderly claiming to be acting on behalf of Indlovukazi.
Queen Ntombi Tfwala.