By Zweli Martin Dlamini

LOBAMBA:Senate President Lindiwe Gwebu-Dlamini has vigorously denied allegations suggesting that, she abused her powers to secure employment for her Personal Assistant(PA) Lungile Siyaya-Fakudze as Assistant Clerk-at-Table.

The Senate President was responding to this Swaziland News on Tuesday evening after a Member of Parliament(MPs) leaked some documents,accusing her of manipulating the recruitment process to secure a job for her PA.

“When you look at the documents I’ve just sent you, it’s clear that the Senate President wanted the job for her PA, she is now working as Clerk-at-Table and other MPs are not happy about this. Why was the post not publicly advertised?,” said the MP whose name cannot be revealed for ethical reasons.

But the Senate President clarified that,Parliament has proper processes for employment and conducts interviews before any decision is taken in this regard.

“Good evening Dlamini.I’m confident that Parliament has proper processes for employment and carries interviews to ensure they employ qualified staff. The office of the Clerk is better placed on all processes”, said the Senate President when responding to this publication on the subject matter.

It has been disclosed that,the post that triggered tension among some MPs,was advertised internally to enable qualified Parliament staff to apply for the job.

Efforts to reach Lungile Siyaya-Fakudze for a comment proved unsuccessful at the time of compiling this report.

But a former Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of a State company who once employed the Senate President’s PA, defended Dlamini in the matter.

“Firstly,Government has a policy to advertise internally and give staff an opportunity to apply, it is within Government policies to source internal skills for a certain position and there’s nothing wrong here.Secondly, I know the matter because Lungile is my former PA.Actually, the Senate President was happy to work with her and she didn’t want Lungile to apply for that job. But Lungile wanted a job security as being a Personal Secretary has a five(5) year contract hence she decided to apply. So it’s not true that, the Senate President secured the job for her, she took a personal decision,applied and passed the internal interviews”, said the former Chief Executive Officer(CEO).

On another note, one of the MPs alleges that,the post was internally advertised to enable the Senate President’s PA to have less competition.

“The information I have is that there were only two(2) people who were interviewed for this job and this worrying”, said the MP.

Clerk to Parliament Benedict Xaba was not immediately available for a comment.

On another note, Lungile Siyaya-Fakudze is now expected to prepare and translate Parliamentary official documents, coordinate meetings for Portfolio Committees and assist in drafting questions and motions for Members of Parliament(MPs).

This is contained in the Parliament documents that form part of her employment, she is also expected to conduct research for Parliament and further organize stakeholder engagement meetings for the MPs.

The new Assistant Clerk-at-Table is also expected to facilitate the passing and amendment of legislation and further provide procedural advice to committees, she will also perform any other duties assigned by the Clerk to Parliament.