By Zweli Martin Dlamini

MBABANE: Pholile Dlamini-Shakantu  urgently intervened amid allegations suggesting that, Siboniso Nhleko, the Lubombo Presiding Officer removed, from the payroll, the name of Sizakele Hlophe who was employed as an Election Clerk within the Lubombo region.

An independent investigation conducted by this Swaziland News uncovered that on or around May 2023, Sizakele Dlamini, an unemployed teacher holding a Degree in Humanities successfully applied for a temporary job with the Elections Commission.

The electronic computer system of the Commission seen by this publication suggests that, Hlophe is supposed to be working as a Clerk for Elections Commission at Vuma Primary School under Lubulini Inkhundla”.

But, it is alleged that the Presiding Officer fraudulently replaced Hlophe with another employee who was never trained to work as Elections Clerk.

The unemployed teacher’s name is also allegedly appearing in the Presiding Officer’s computer and insiders alleged that, Nhleko might have acted with an intention to defraud the Elections Commission by either claiming her money as if she was employed, and/or replacing her with another person for personal benefit.

Worth-noting, the teacher attended training workshops for the Commission with other employees, however, after the last workshop, the Presiding Officer is said to have asked to speak with Hlophe on the sidelines and that was when she informed her that, she will report for duty only after receiving a call from him.

Reached for comments,Sizakele Hlophe confirmed that, she was sitting at home despite the fact that her name appears in the Elections Commission system as an employed Clerk.

“I can confirm that I attended workshops conducted by the Elections Commission after being employed but was then told to wait for a call.As we speak, I’m sitting at home”, said the unemployed qualified teacher.

It has been disclosed that the matter reached the attention of Justice Minister Pholile Dlamini-Shakantu on Thursday, after Sizakele Hlophe’s husband Siphamandla Gina questioned his wife why she was sitting at home despite being employed by the Commission and that was when the teacher narrated what happened during the workshop.

Gina is said to have then urgently searched for the contacts of the Justice Minister who apologized and promised to deal with the issue as a matter of urgency.

“Ncesi Gina, I’ve forwarded your message and number to the Commission”, reads the text message sent by the Justice Minister to Gina.

An effort to reach the Justice Minister for a comment proved unsuccessful at the time of compiling this report.

But an independent investigation uncovered that, after the Minister contacted the Commission, Nhleko was questioned by the Commission and that was when he called Gina fuming on Friday morning, demanding to know why he was reported to his superiors.

When this publication contacted Siboniso Nhleko, the alleged corrupt Elections Commission Presiding Officer,he terminated the conversation immediately after this investigative journalist introduced himself.

Reached for comments, Mbonisi Bhembe, the Spokesperson of the Elections and Boundaries Commission(EBC) said, he will contact the Human Resources office to ascertain what happened regarding this matter.

“I will check with my superiors from the HR office to ascertain what happened”, said the Spokesperson of the Elections Commission.