By Zweli Martin Dlamini

MBABANE:Futhie ‘MamKhize’ Ngcamphalala, the newly elected Lubombo Regional Member of Parliament(MP) was fired after defrauding her previous employer,the United Nations(UN) monies amounting to over R2million(USD106,570.00).

This is contained in a recent judgment delivered by the United Nations Dispute Tribunal.

The new MP who was working as an Administrative Assistant for the United Nations(UN) Mission in South Sudan(UNMISS) HIV/AIDS Unit,was cited in the judgement and alleged to have orchestrated the fraud by tricking her boss to sign for the payment of training and catering services that were never rendered.

After being dismissed together with her boss Munywoki,it is alleged that,Ngcamphalala decided not to appeal the dismissal but her boss did and the judgement under case number UNDT/NBI/2023/030 was delivered on the 31st July 2023.

It is further alleged that, between 2018 and 2022,the newly elected MP misrepresented to the UN on numerous occasions by claiming that she was procuring catering and training services in a UN Peace Keeping Site in Juba, the capital city of South Sudan.

As a result, Ngcamphalala’s boss who authorized the payments allegedly unaware, was dismissed by the UN and subsequently filed an appeal with the United Nations(UN) Dispute Tribunal where he stated that Futhie Ngcamphalala admitted to have committed the fraud,the matter was before Judge Sean Wallace.

“This judgment will focus mainly on the events, but it is clear that evidence also supports the allegations relating to procurements.The Applicant also does not dispute that the total value of these submissions was USD106,570.Finally, he does not dispute that these requests were either signed by him personally, or were signed by his Assistant, Ms. Ngcamphalala, on his behalf.The Applicant’s argument is that, while Ms. Ngcamphalala committed fraud in submitting these requests, he did not. He argues that he was merely negligent in failing to detect and correct Ms. Ngcamphalala’s fraud.The record is replete with evidence showing the fraudulent scheme, and the Tribunal notes that Ms. Ngcamphalala did not contest her dismissal for this misconduct.Since the Applicant also does not contest the fraud, merely his participation in it, the Tribunal will only focus on evidence relating to the Applicant’s involvement”, reads the judgement in part.

Reached for comments on Monday afternoon,Futhie Ngcamphalala, the Lubombo Regional MP declined to comment regarding the matter.

“Thank you Nkhosi.However I cannot comment on a document that is not mine and I know nothing about,” said the Lubombo Regional MP.

On another note, the United Nations Dispute Tribunal dismissed the appeal after concluding that Munywoki,the then HIV/AIDS Chief of Section in the United Nations(UN) Mission in South Sudan failed to play an oversight role and as a result,cannot claim he was not involved in the fraud.