When this Swaziland News first reported about the corruption and or abuse of power that manifested in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, Deputy Prime Minister(DPM) Themba Masuku came out gun blazing in defence of government, he even requested permission to write an article and clarity the allegations, in the interest of fairness we published his response.
Now, with the new emerging allegations of corruption in the multi-million COVID-19 tenders, it has transpired that the DPM was pulling the wool in the eyes of the Nation. It should be noted that the mere fact that the National Disaster Management Agency(NDMA) is under Masuku’s office suggests that he is the number one suspect in the looting of the COVID-19 multi-million donations because as a leader, we haven’t seen him putting pressure on the law enforcement agencies to arrest the suspects within his Ministry.
As the media, it’s high time we influence the international community to stop donating money to this corrupt government that uses the sufferings of the people to enrich certain individuals.
The DPM is always in the newspapers talking about useless things, he has never been vocal about the corruption within his Ministry, in most instances, leaders keep quiet in the midst of corrupt practices if they are part of the chain of corrupt beneficiaries.
As a Nation, we need to understand that Masuku is part of the Cabinet Committee that was tasked with fighting corruption, it was wrong in the first place for Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini to establish such a Committee because politicians are the main suspects in corruption and white collar crime, how can they fight corruption if they are suspected to be part of it? Corruption is influenced by power and it normally manifests in the inter-section between politics and business, it is therefore impossible for politicians to be investigators of corruption, how can alleged thieves investigate themselves.
It is now clear that the Anti Corruption Commission was castrated because corruption in this country involves high profile people, the most painful part is that these people loot at the expense of the poor citizens who are struggling to put food on the table.
The list of companies who tendered and looted the millions of Emalangeni meant to buy Personal Protective Equipment(PPEs) cannot be a secret to the DPM because the NDMA is a department under his Ministry, he must be held accountable for this corruption.
International organisations should know that monies donated directly to government through these entities like NDMA are looted by politicians and royal linked companies with impunity, because this country does not have a functional or competent Anti-Corruption Commission(ACC) that can arrest these corrupt individuals, the ACC was castrated by the equally corrupt Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala's ruling and now politicians and politically connected individuals are looting with impunity.
It pains the public to see government receiving donations on their behalf knowing that the money will not help them, but instead, it will go to the pockets of politicians including King Mswati, the head of the Eswatini corrupt political syndicate.
Government will never fight poverty in this country because, the sufferings of the people are now used to defraud donors. In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, health workers consistently complained about PPEs, the very same DPM claimed it was hard to procure the COVID-19 equipment due to a global demand, but where is the money that was meant to buy these goods?
Masuku, as a former Minister of Finance ought to have known that in the absence of the PPEs, he must just publicly declare that the money is still safe as they await the delivery of the goods.
In the absence of the millions and the equipment, the DPM should explain where did the money go, corruption is beginning to be a serious problem in this country and it is perpetrated by the politicians who portray themselves as Christians in the eyes of the public, action must be taken against these corrupt religious political ‘thieves’.
Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku