MBABANE:Mswati has allegedly ordered the temporal re-opening of the Royal Swazi SPA Hotel ahead of the highly anticipated Independence and King’s Birthday Celebrations at the beginning of next month.
The multi-million Royal Swazi SPA is under liquidation, the King through Tibiyo TakaNgwane had expressed interest in purchasing the Hotel, however, according to insiders,the finalization of the sale was allegedly delayed by Mswati’s offer that was far less than the actual value of the property.
The King’s order, according to information in possession of this Swaziland News, was communicated through Chief Protocol Officer Khandlela Mdluli in a meeting held at the Convention Centre on Monday, the meeting was also attended by Home Affairs Minister Princess Lindiwe and one Merisa Boxshall-Smith, the liquidator of the Hotel.
Reached for comments, King’s Spokesperson Percy Simelane said, the meeting and the Command “looks like a delegated operation to be executed by Government” adding that the Ministry of Tourism was better positioned to comment in this regard.
“The Tourism Ministry is better positioned to respond to it.I haven’t succeeded getting a response from the person who transmitted the alleged Royal Command to the meeting in question,” said the King’s Spokesperson.
Responding to this publication on Friday, Moses Vilakati, the Minister of Tourism confirmed the re-opening of the Hotel.
The Minister said, most accommodation facilities were already fully booked for the festive season, hence the decision to renovate and re-open the Royal Swazi SPA.
“The hotels are all fully booked for the festive season.As government, we deemed it fit to temporarily open these hotels.We are working right round the clock to have them operational”, said the Tourism Minister.
As per the sentiments of the Minister, indeed, when this publication visited the Hotel on Friday afternoon, it was discovered that renovations have already started.
Reached for comments, Sivumelwano Nyembe, the newly appointed Spokesperson of the pro-democracy MultiStakeholder Forum(MSF) said, if government opted to renovate the Hotel with public funds, then that would be in violation of the Public Finance Management Act.
“This is in violation of the Public Finance Management Act that seeks to ensure the accountability of public funds, you cannot channel funds to projects that are purely private”, said the MSF Spokesperson.
Workers at the Royal Swazi SPA.