By Zweli Martin Dlamini

MBABANE:Vumile Dlamini,the removed Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of the Royal Science and Technology Park(RSTP), allegedly colluded with Chief Justice(CJ) Bheki Maphalala and powerful and politically connected Indonesian Consular Kareem Ashraff to rent-out under-construction Offices for the Judicial Service Commission(JSC) with an alleged intention of looting millions of public funds.

A bundle of documentary evidence obtained by this Swaziland News Investigation Unit suggest that,Dlamini, a grandson of King Sobhuza and son Prince Vovo,is linked to a powerful and politically connected alleged corrupt syndicate involving Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala,Prime Minister(PM) Russell Mmiso Dlamini and Indonesian Consular Kareem Ashraff.

It has been disclosed that, on or around 14th April 2022,the powerful syndicate plotted to rent Offices for the Commercial Court with the Royal Science and Technology Park(RSTP) and despite the fact that, the Offices were under-construction and not approved by independent consultants for human occupation, the Chief Executive Officer(CEO) commenced the process with an alleged intention of looting the public funds before the expiry of his contract of employment.

Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala is the Chairman of the Judicial Service Commission(JSC), in charge of all administrative responsibilities of the judiciary, he allegedly engaged in the fraud and corruption deal to rent the Offices in his capacity as the Chairman of the JSC.

An independent investigation conducted by this publication further uncovered that,despite the availability of vacant offices within the capital city-Mbabane,the intention by the alleged corrupt syndicate was to charge Government for the rent and part of the money was to be shared between the CEO, Ashraff,Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala among others.

But the systematic allocation of the JSC Offices in Matsapha and far away from the capital city-Mbabane,allegedly forms part of the over R100million looting and/or laundering of public funds by the then CEO and through various entities,more evidence in our possession links Vumile Dlamini,the CJ  and Kareem Ashraff and other high profile individuals to a solid powerful and well-connected alleged corrupt syndicate.

The documents in our possession further suggest that,on the 14th April 2022 and subsequent to correspondence from the Chief Executive Officer(CEO),Roger C.Y. Tsai, a CECI Engineering Consultants, Incl Taiwan Resident Engineer wrote to Vumile Dlamini, the then Royal Science and Technology Park(RSTP) Chief Executive Officer(CEO), informing him about the dangers of allowing the Judicial Service Commission(JSC) to occupy the building that was, at the time,under construction.

“The site is still a live working site and the contractor has taken all measures and precautions to ensure a safe working environment,however, it is the responsibility of the Client to ensure that all those measures and boundaries are kept by the occupants.The comfortability of the usage of the building and services will not be at full capacity as construction works are still ongoing.We kindly urge the client to ensure that, the occupants are fully aware of the pending works and the current conditions of their spaces as maintenance of the occupied spaces now lies with the client.Liabilities of all incidents that occur within the occupied spaces will be the responsibility of the Client unless the pending scope of works”, reads the letter in part,directed to the CEO who was rushing to have the JSC occupy the building so he can quickly collect rent from Government.

But after receiving the letter from the Taiwan Engineer on the 14th April 2024, a week later, the RSTP Chief Executive Officer(CEO)allegedly engaged MA Dlamini Consulting Engineers with an alleged intention of obtaining another report that will justify the pre-occupation of the building.

But in a report leaked to this Swaziland News,MA Dlamini Consulting Engineers also shared the same sentiments,warning about the risks of pre-occupying the building, the report was released two(2) weeks after the CEO received a letter from the Taiwan Resident Engineer.

This means two(2) independent consultants being CECI Engineering Consultants,Incl from Taiwan and MA Dlamini Consulting Engineers objectively produced reports warning that, the building was, at the time, not suitable for human occupation.

“The fire detection system installation has not been completed yet.Upon completion,it must be commissioned.However, commissioning will require permanent power connection”,reads the report in part compiled by MA Dlamini Consulting Engineers.

Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala and Kareem Ashraff declined to comment and, analyses of the documents and other electronic evidence suggests that,Ashraff has been,since the construction of the building benefiting millions of public funds.

Vumile Dlamini rushed to the Swazi Observer to deny that,he allegedly looted over R100million public funds but,his personal bank accounts suggest that,he received millions from Cypher Technology(Pty) Ltd, a company that received tenders worth millions from the Royal Science and Technology Park(RSTP).

The removed CEO who allegedly built multimillion mansions for his wives and bought luxious vehicles for various girlfriends with alleged stolen public funds, had his personal bank account receiving millions from companies that were awarded tenders by the Royal Science and Technology Park(RSTP).

Reached for comments on Sunday afternoon, Muzi Dlamini,the Managing Director of MA Dlamini and Consulting Engineers confirmed that,his company was engaged by the RSTP on electrical and mechanical engineering but he declined to share more details and asked to contacted later after engaging with the professional Consultant who was working on the project.

“MA consulting engineers were the design engineers for the RSTP on electrical and mechanical engineering.I will have a response tomorrow morning after talking to the professional who authored the report”, said the MA Dlamini Consulting Engineers Managing Director when responding to this Swaziland News.

Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo declined to comment about the matter.

But in the midst of the multimillion fraud and corruption scandal within the Science and Technology Park, this publication reported earlier on Sunday that,Information Minister Savannah Maziya was allegedly summoned by Liqoqo,the King’s Advisory Council to explain why she removed Vumile Dlamini as Chief Executive Officer(CEO).

Minister Savannah Maziya is alleged to have not only refused to appear before Liqoqo but went on to tell the Chairman Paul Dlamini to identify one member and that,the Chairman and the identified member,must come to see her in her office and explain why she was being summoned.

“The Chairman was very angry and felt undermined by the Minister,he then made efforts to see Prime Minister Russell Dlamini who said he was also having challenges in controlling Minister Savannah Maziya and if he can get the King’s approval, he can fire her together with four(4) other Ministers who are opposing him in Cabinet”, said a royal insider. 

But King’s Spokesperson Percy Simelane told this Swaziland News on Saturday evening that,the King never instructed Liqoqo to intimidate the Information Minister and prevent her from performing her administrative duties within her Ministry.

Responding to this publication,Simelane maintained his earlier comment suggesting that,the King will not interfere in the matter despite the fact that,Vumile Dlamini is a member of the royal family.

“We have no record of the King  protecting members of the royal family from being disciplined for their wrong doings,our argument it was and still is based on that.We are not aware too that Liqoqo has made moves to thwart an administrative decision on the matter in question by the line Ministry.We are,however alive to the fact that individuals and State bodies do use the King’s name to grind-out decisions favorable to their blue-eyed suspects.In this case,the allegation is that his Advisory Council has cornered the Minister for ICT from taking action.That’s not the King as it were, by definition,advice is not an order,and we do not expect the King to be a conveyer-belt for a decision taken out of order”, said the King’s Spokesperson.

On another note,Roger C.Y. Tsai, the CECI Engineering Consultants,Incl Taiwan Resident Engineer confirmed to this Swaziland News that, he wrote the letter warning about the pre-occupation of the building but referred questions to the client being the Royal Science and Technology Park(RSTP).

This publication sent the letter to Tsai on Sunday afternoon, seeking clarity on the events that led to him writing such letter to the Chief Executive Officer(CEO) and warning about the pre-occupation of the building.

“ This is our correspondence to the client. However, As consultants to our client for this construction project, we kindly request that all project-related inquiries be directed to RSTP for assistance”, said the CECI Engineering Consultants Resident Engineer.