MBABANE: Christian Ntjangase, the late Minister of Public Service died trying to stop the multi-billion looting within the Public Service Pension Fund(PSPF) as per a Parliament resolution.

This is contained in a bundle of documents obtained by the Investigation Unit of this Swaziland News that further substantiates how companies linked to King Mswati and government looted over E3billion from the Public Service Pension Fund through questionable loans.

On or around the 12th May 2020, Christian Myekeni Ntjangase, the then Minister of Public Service wrote a letter to Finance Minister Neal Rijikernberg requesting him to implement a Parliament resolution suggesting that government should reverse the decision of converting the Pension fund into a Category A public enterprise so that the Fund could be returned to the people and be fully owned by the pensioners under Category B.

The Pension Fund was 'grabbed' from the people after King Mswati abused his powers and manipulated the law, in that he instructed his Cabinet to change its ownership to be indirectly owned by him through his government by converting it into Category A public enterprise, this was done through Legal Notice No. 150 of 2014.

But the resolution to reverse the decision that was sabotaged by King Mswati through his Cabinet came subsequent to an investigation by a Parliament Select Committe chaired by Saladin Magagula, the then Hhukwini Member of Parliament, however, the current MPs supported it calling upon Cabinet to implement the resolution.

“As you may be aware that the House of Parliament passed a motion calling upon the Minister of Public Service to reverse the categorization of the Public Service Pension Fund from Category A to B of public enterprises. I have found this to be difficult for me to carry out since the supervision and categorization of public enterprises is not part of the responsibilities of my Ministry, but that of the Ministry of Finance. I therefore request you to carry out the resolution of Parliament and reverse the categorization of the Public Service Pension Fund from Category A to B”, read the letter written by the late Minister of Public Service.

Ntjangase allegedly died of a COVID-19 related illness on or around January 2021 while receiving treatment at Lubombo Referral Hospital.

Reached for comments by this Swaziland News, Saladin Magagula, the then Hhukwini MP who was leading the Parliament investigation into the affairs of the Pension Fund sounded surprised that this investigative journalist was in possession of such critical information suggesting that the late Minister tried to implement the resolution and stop the looting.

“I would like to honor the late Public Service Minister in his grave for being brave and honest. It takes an honest person to take such a decision because Parliament is a very important institution that must be respected. Now, the disclosure of such information means it is the Finance Minister who is in contempt of Parliament. I would like to urge MPs and general members of the public to keep a close eye on this Finance Minister because his company benefited from the Pension Fund, so he is conflicted in implementing this Parliament resolution. We can’t have a Finance Minister supervising the Pension Fund and then his company benefits millions from the same Fund”, he said.

A questionnaire, including a copy of the letter was sent to Finance Minister Neal Rijikernberg, however, he had not responded at the time of compiling this report.

The documents in our possession further disclose that Montingny Investments, a powerful and politically connected company linked to Finance Minister and King Mswati benefitted over E156million from the Fund through the systematic looting that manifested during a scramble for loans.

Reached for comments earlier, Elkan Makhanya, the Director of Corporate Services within the Public Service Pension Fund confirmed that he was the authorized person to respond to the media on behalf of the Fund, however, he asked not to comment on this matter.

“Yes, I am the one who speaks on behalf of the Pension Fund but I’ve got no comment on this matter”,said the PSPF Corporate Services Director.

On or around 1st February 2021, this publication published an investigative report that exposed other politically connected companies that benefitted from the systematic looting within the Fund.

These companies include Inyatsi Construction that benefitted over E603million, Select Management Services benefitted over E103million and the Swaziland Sugar Association among others that benefitted over E355million. King Mswati allegedly looted over E2billion through various loans that were secured by the government and transferred to the Central Bank, part of the money subsequently benefitted the King and the royal family directly under the royal budget.