By Zweli Martin Dlamini

MBABANE: Apollo Maphalala,the Minister of Housing and Urban Development is alleged to be systematically frustrating operations of the Mbabane Municipality after Councillors rejected Gciniwe Fakudze as the Chief Executive Officer(CEO).

This was disclosed by a source very close to Maphalala, the source said,documents or decisions that need the signature of the Minister are intentionally frustrated to prevent the Councilors from conducting business as usual in the absence of a Chief Executive Officer.

“Already, more Mbabane Municipality documents in the Minister’s desk that need his signature are not signed, he said he will not sign because by signing, he will be giving the Councillors the authority to continue running the Manicipality in the absence of a CEO”, said the source.

The Councillors took the Housing and Urban Development Minister to court, challenging his decision to appoint Gciniwe Fakudze as the CEO, the court subsequently issued an interim order preventing Fakudze from resuming her duties as the Chief Executive Officer pending finalization of the matter.

“It seems the Minister is fully aware that even if Gciniwe could win the matter in court, the Councillors will appeal and that would mean the Supreme Court might hear the matter in three(3) years. So he is now finding ways to ensure that the Councillors are frustrated and operations are grounded so that, the need for a CEO or to finalize the matter could be felt.Thereafter, the Councillors might be forced to withdraw the matter in court because they would be no service delivery in Mbabane and their voters might be affected as the fighting continues”, the source said.

It has been disclosed that, while frustrating the employment of Gciniwe Fakudze, the Councillors are taking advantage, allegedly looting ratepayers money through international trips and other allowances by influencing the Acting CEO, Mayor Thulani Mkhonto is reportedly outside the country.

Reached for comments by this Swaziland News on Wednesday afternoon, Lucky Tsabedze, the Mbabane Municipality Public Relations Officer(PRO) said the matter was handled in another level and he was too junior to even respond in this regard.

“Kindly contact the Mayor, the matter you are asking me about is handled at political level yet I’m only focusing on the administration of the Manicipality. I cannot even comment because I’m too junior for such matters”,said the Mbabane Municipality PRO.

Mayor Thulani Mkhonto declined to comment regarding the matter.

Efforts to reach the Housing and Urban Development Minister proved unsuccessful at the time of compiling this report.

Reached for comments by this publication,Gciniwe Fakudze asked not to comment as the matter is pending in court.

“I can’t comment as the matter is pending in court”, she said.

Councillors of the Mbabane Municipality took Housing and Urban Development Minister Apollo Maphalala to court for appointing Gciniwe Fakudze as the Chief Executive Officer(CEO).

As a result of the tension between the Minister and the Councillors of the capital city, operations are highly expected to be grounded and service delivery might be delayed.