By Zweli Martin Dlamini

MBABANE:Percy Simelane,the King’s Spokesperson has come-out to clarify that King Mswati will not,in any way,interfere in the alleged multimillion fraud and corruption investigation within the Royal Science and Technology Park(RSTP).

This comes after this publication published a story earlier on Monday, exposing how Chief Executive Officer(CEO)Vumile Dlamini allegedly looted over R100million public funds using a company known as Cypher Technology(Pty) Ltd,Dlamini was subsequently investigated by the Anti Corruption Commission(ACC) but the probe involving the powerful and influential royal linked CEO was sabotaged.

CEO Vumile Dlamini,the alleged mastermind in the looting of the public funds,is the grandson of King Sobhuza II,the son of Prince Vovo within the powerful Royal household of Prince Phiwokwakhe where the late mother to the current Zulu King MisuZulu Princess Mantfombi originates.

In the article,lawyer Sibusiso Nhlabatsi was quoted citing ‘kwetfula’ or presenting gifts to the King by alleged corrupt individuals as one of the obstacles preventing the Anti Corruption Commission(ACC) from effecting arrests.

“The challenge in this country is that most alleged corrupt individuals have proximity with the King hence the challenges by the Anti Corruption Commission to arrest them.You may find that part of the money was presented to the King as “tetfulo” and it then becomes difficult for the ACC to arrest them”,said the lawyer.

But King’s Spokesperson Percy Simelane vigorously defended the King in this regard,saying paying homage to the Monarch through ‘tetfulo’ cannot be a shield to prevent arrests.

“We have no record where paying homage to the King through gifts(tetfulo) became an arrest buster of shield.It would be a test case if individuals at the Royal Science Park enjoyed immunity after paying homage gifts to the King. To the best of our knowledge the King does not protect suspects from being arrested.We have a case where one of his half brothers was arrested but the Monarch did not intervene.Recently he was accused of protecting a member of the royal family who had allegedly been fingered in a rape case.Upon  thorough investigation,we discovered that the police did not have any reported case to that effect.We will continue to take Mr Nhlabatsi’s submission as his own perception until he shares with us evidence of the illegal protection by the King”, said the King’s Spokesperson.

Wandile Dludlu,a University of Eswatini(UNESWA) law student and Deputy President of the People’s United Democratic Movement(PUDEMO),when asked by this publication to share his view regarding the matter,said as an organization,they can cite various incidents or cases where high profile people linked to the King were not arrested despite the availability of substantive evidence linking them to fraud and corruption.

“It is for these reasons we fully agree with the lawyer who attributed the incompetence of the justice system or law enforcement agencies in arresting those close to the King,to ‘tetfulo’ or proximity to the King”, said the PUDEMO Deputy President.