By Zweli Martin Dlamini

MALOLOTJA:King Mswati has partnered with Taiwan in the mining of a multibillion Green Chert mineral at Malolotja Nature Reserve.

The ongoing looting of State minerals and/or resources comes after Taiwan donated rice across the country to poor emaSwati,the donations intensified towards the recent Tinkhundla undemocratic elections to influence its outcomes and strengthen Taiwan’s control of critical State institutions.

King Mswati in terms of the Mines and Minerals Act, is a shareholder at Michael Lee Enterprises owned by Michael Lee,the Taiwan mining company has already started to transport the mineral using trucks.

Even though the law empowers the King to hold the shares in trust for the Swazi Nation, Mswati has never remitted the monies for the benefit of the poor people.

But King’s Spokesperson Percy Simelane told this Swaziland News earlier that,the King uses the money to assist emaSwati in various ways including scholarships and school fees.

“The money is used to assist emaSwati in many ways like the Tibiyo TakaNgwane scholarships”, said the King’s Spokesperson.

News24,quoting an article published by GroundUp,reported this week that,the mineral mined at Malolotja is then railed to Mozambique,where it is exported.

“I take two to three full loads of green stone a day to the Matsapha railways,”News24 reported quoting a driver interviewed by GroundUp.

Efforts to reach Michael Lee,the Director of the Mine proved unsuccessful at the time of compiling this report.

Jeremy Liang,the Taiwan Ambassador declined to comment about the matter.

Reached for comments on Friday morning, Mlungisi Makhanya, the President of the People’s United Democratic Movement(PUDEMO) said as an organization,they warned emaSwati against the Chinese Province-Taiwan.

“We insist that there’s nothing like Taiwan,that is a Province of China.But they must know that once our country attains democracy,the democratic people’s government,will calculate the value of all the damages and the looting that they are undertaking in our country and we will institute reparations and compensation so that,they can pay for the damages they are causing.We are also calling for the expulsion of the representatives of the so called country of Taiwan and the change of course for our country to establish diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China”,said the PUDEMO President.

On another note,GroundUp reported that,the Mololotja Mine is operating without an environmental assessment permit.