EZULWINI:King Mswati is allegedly using his Financial Advisor Sthofeni Ginindza in a systematic plot to loot over R200million taxpayers money through a highly questionable African Alliance tender to construct ‘free’ houses for the new Members of Parliament(MPs) and Senators,an independent investigation reveals.
African Alliance Eswatini is a subsidiary of African Alliance Group, a Pan-African investment banking platform dealing in Private Equity, Advisory, Asset Management and Securities, Sthofeni Ginindza is a Partner at African Alliance, representing business interests for King Mswati,an absolute Monarch with Executive, Judicial and Legislative powers.
It has been disclosed that,the construction of the MPs Village alongside the new Eswatini Parliament Building through a Private Public Partnership(PPP) between Parliament and the African Alliance, has been systematically ‘designed’ to channel public funds from the Government to the investment entity that “is controlled by Mswati through his Financial Advisor”.
Last week,during the MPs induction held at the Happy Valley Hotel-Ezulwini,Victor Langa,the African Alliance General Manager made a presentation before Members of Parliament(MPs) and Senators, explaining the proposed structure of the Village.
But subsequent to the presentation by the investment entity, it has been disclosed that, MPs are then expected to debate and approve a budget for the construction of their own houses.
Reached for comments by this Swaziland News on Wednesday morning,Victor Langa, the African Alliance General Manager said, he was not in a rightful position to comment outside what he presented before the MPs regarding the project.
“Maybe,if you can contact Ginindza, he is the rightful person to comment regarding the costs of the project.I cannot comment outside what I presented before the MPs”, said the African Alliance General Manager.
But a construction expert who was asked by this publication to analyse the proposed plan said, the MPs houses and/or Village will cost taxpayers over R200million.
“We normally charge government about R1.4million to construct one house for a teacher and this include labour and building material.So a decent house for one MP might cost over R2million and when you calculate by the number of MPs and Senators that is over R200million based on the construction plan,”said the construction expert who was asked by this publication to analyze the project and share opinion evidence.
Opinion evidence refers to direct evidence outlining what the expert witness,believes, or infers regarding facts as distinguished from personal knowledge of the facts themselves.
Sthofeni Ginindza,the King’s Financial Advisor and Partner at African Alliance failed to respond to a specific question, when asked by this publication to clarify how much the construction of the MPs Village will cost.
Responding to this Swaziland News on Wednesday, Percy Simelane,the King’s Spokesperson vigorously denied that, the King was intending to loot public funds through the highly questionable African Alliance project.
The King’s Spokesperson said,such projects are handled by Government not the King’s Office adding that, the King only provided the land.
“To the best of our knowledge the new Parliament construction and the much talked about accommodation units for Members of Parliament are Government projects.We would not be sure if looting public funds will part of the game in these constructions because in our experience, that theft is done away from the public eye.The King's role was to make land available for construction at the request of the Government led by the late ex-Prime Minister Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini.Handling of monies for such projects is normally the responsibility of the Finance Ministry in collaboration with the Ministry of Economic Planning away from the King's Office,” said the King’s Spokesperson.
Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo referred comments to Benedict Xaba and efforts to reach the Clerk to Parliament proved unsuccessful at the time of compiling this report.
On another note,this disclosure comes at the time when eSwatini is facing a health crisis amid shortage of drugs in public hospitals,hundreds have died since the crisis erupted.
Speaking to this publication regarding the latest developments amid shortage of drugs in public hospitals, Mayibongwe Masagwane,the Secretary General(SG) of the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union(SWADNU) said,the intended construction of houses for MPs comes as a surprise to them considering the degenerating situation in the various public hospitals adding that,theaters were not functioning.
A theater is a health facility within a hospital where surgical operations are carried out.
“The situation is becoming worse,theaters are not operating in all the hospitals amid shortage of working equipment and drugs.We have seen the Prime Minister announcing a team of Cabinet Ministers tasked with addressing the health crisis and all this is just propaganda meant to mislead the people that something is being done.Task Teams have been appointed before and nothing was done to address the crisis.So we are shocked with the intended construction of MPs houses amid the health crisis”, said the Secretary General of the Nurses Union when responding to this publication on Wednesday.
On another note, African Alliance, the politically connected financial institution,has been systematically used to loot millions of public funds,some of these monies were subsequently used to acquire shares for Mswati and/or the purchasing or acquisition of various companies that are key to the economic backbone or transformation of the country.
On or around 29th January 2019, the Times of eSwatini reported that,African Alliance through it’s Alliance Foods (Pty) Limited was granted approval by KFC (Pty)Limited,a private company incorporated in South Africa, to acquire the seven(7) KFC restaurants (QSR) from Pimenta’s KFC (Pty) Ltd.
This came amid allegations suggesting that,King Mswati was using his financial muscle enhanced by the looting of public funds, to ‘grab’ giant companies or alternatively, 'forcefully' demand majority shareholding.
African Alliance,the financial investment entity with alleged links to Mswati, also owns Pick& Pay stores including Pick& Pay Mashayitafula that was recently officially opened by the King.
Responding to this publication on Wednesday, Sivumelwano Nyembe, the Spokesperson of the pro-democracy MultiStakeholders Forum(MSF), accused the King’s Government of prioritizing projects that have nothing to do with development and improving the lives of the people living in poverty.
“As a country, we are facing many challenges including the health crisis and damaged roads, Government must address these issues instead of rushing to construct houses for MPs,” said the MSF Spokesperson.
Eswatini has about 70% of the population living below the poverty line and in 2016, the World Food Program(WFP),an international organization within the United Nations(UN) that provides food assistance, reported that, over three hundred thousand(300 000) citizens were urgently in need of food aid.
King Mswati and his Financial Advisor Sthofeni Ginindza.