MBABANE:Prince Lonkhokhela, the Minister of Natural Resources and Energy has overruled a decision of the Tender Board, he allegedly refused to allow Pit Bulls Security Protection to provide security services to Government despite winning an open tender.
It has been disclosed that,the Prince became angry after learning that, a security company owned by an ex-Eswatini National Provident Fund(ENPF) employee Stephen Jobe Ntshalitshali,whom he allegedly constructively dismissed,will now provide security services to his Ministry.
The influential Prince is a former Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of the Eswatini National Provident Fund and documents in possession of this publication suggests that, he was allegedly persecuting Ntshalitshali even at the Provident Fund, Ntshalitshali was working as a Senior Reconciliation Officer.
Reached for comments by this Swaziland News on Wednesday afternoon, Stephen Jobe Ntshalitshali, the Director of Pit Bulls Security Protection confirmed that,the Prince “is preventing his company from assuming duties” despite winning a tender.
“It’s true, after winning the tender from the Tender Board, I even called him to introduce myself that I will be working with his Ministry and he was polite but secretly fighting me and my company.We were supposed to start at the beginning of this month but he said he wants Fidelity not my company. Maybe he was angered by the fact that, he constructively dismissed me while I was working at the Provident Fund and now, my company has won a tender to provide security services to a Ministry where he is the political head”, said the Pit Bulls Security Protection Director.
The Natural Resources and Energy Minister declined to comment or respond to our questions regarding the matter.
But a document seen by this Swaziland News suggest that, on the 4th September 2024, Mbongeni Mhlonishwa Dlamini, the Alternative Secretary of the Tender Board wrote to the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy communicating a decision to award the tender to the said company.
A document from the Tender Board.