By Zweli Martin Dlamini

Peter Simelane, the SwaziMed Chief Executive Officer(CEO) who doubles as the Chairman of the Eswatini Football Association(EFA) is trying to play ‘mafia’ dangerous games and perhaps, he is not aware that some of us in our twenty(20) years experience as journalists, we interacted with ‘mafias’ hence we know the modus operandi.

It is for these reasons in journalism, you don’t just emerge from nowhere and become an editor, you rise through the ranks, report stories and by the time you become an editor which is the highest rank in the media, you have a better understanding of different characters and how to approach stories involving alleged mafias and corrupt thieves like Peter Simelane.

Perhaps, let me start by addressing SwaziMed Board Chairman Sammy Dlamini who doubles as the Chairman of the Public Service Pension Fund(PSPF),Dlamini tried to negotiate that the multimillion SwaziMed story be put on hold saying he was addressing the matter internally.

The Board Chairman even said; “uwakitsi-ke wena” when negotiating that I must hold the story and give him some time to call a Board meeting and address the matter internally.

Well, I am asking myself; if I allowed Sammy Dlamini to influence me on Tuesday night in our conversation and dropped the story, that would mean the alleged looting at SwaziMed will be continuing without any demand for accountability”.

Dlamini is fully aware that,I told him that for now, I will be dealing with the governance crisis with the SwaziMed Governing Board and, I gave him some few days to hold a Board meeting and address the matter.

Furthermore, I informed the Board Chairman that, thereafter, I will be exposing and shaking the foundations of corruption within SwaziMed and how the money is looted.

But now, the Board Chairman has breached our agreement, instead, together with the CEO Peter Simelane, he approached captured journalists from the Times and Swazi Observer for damage control while evading accountability.

The Board Chairman is fully aware that, I made it clear to him that, there’s no way this multimillion story could be dropped particularly because, it involves the lives of emaSwati with Medical Aid Cards that are fast becoming valueless amid looting of public funds at SwaziMed.

In the absence of Board meetings seeking to address this matter, the investigation will intensify at SwaziMed because Sammy Dlamini is demonstrating unwillingness to address the corruption and, he cannot just deny that he is part of the looting.

This matter is of vital public interest and there’s no way SwaziMed CEO can just sabotage it with a press statement saying “everything is going smoothly within the Medical Scheme” when on the other hand, emaSwati are struggling with their Medical Aid despite paying millions to the country’s largest medical scheme.

In terms of corporate governance principles, it is the duty of the Board of Directors to demand accountability of the public funds at SwaziMed and, that’s what the Board members are doing.

But as the independent media, we will also play our part and expose the allegations of wrongdoing while demanding accountability of the public funds.

SwaziMed CEO Peter Simelane must just relax, we have handled mafias in our twenty(20) years of experience and we not intimidated, Simelane must just appear before the Board for questioning, a Chief Executive Officer accounts to the Board of Directors.

In conclusion, perhaps it is important to state that, all institutions handling public funds must subscribe to the principles of transparency and accountability, it is absurd for SwaziMed to collect public funds and then evade accountability.