By Zweli Martin Dlamini

MBABANE:Dr Simon Zwane,the Principal Secretary(PS) in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development says the recent R30million Matsapha TESCO burnt property exposes the incompetence of the Department of Fire and therefore,if he had powers, he could be firing all employees of the Department including Chief Fire Officer(CFO) Luke Lushaba.

This is contained in a leaked electronic recording of a secret meeting between the PS, Chief Fire Officer Luke Lushaba and others.

The meeting was held in Mbabane at the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development Offices last month shortly after the recent burning of TESCO-Matsapha,the electronic recording has been uploaded on Swaziland News Facebook page. 

“TESCO is situated next to Matsapha Fire Station and you could even walk and arrive there within five(5) minutes, however, the property was completely burnt and the Department of Fire couldn’t do anything. If I had powers I could be firing all employees of the Fire Department and re-establish the Department after the TESCO incident”, said the PS.

Efforts to reach the PS proved unsuccessful at the time of compiling this report.

Chief Fire Officer Luke Lushaba declined to comment about the matter.

On another note, the Chief Fire Officer Luke Lushaba who was also present during the meeting, did not clearly explain why the Fire Department “is so incompetent”, public and private infrastructure worth billions have been lost in the past six(6) months and this, was after Lushaba ordered almost all fire employees to camp at the Police College in preparation for the Fire Day.

But it transpired during the meeting that, the Department of Fire is not well-equipped to fight fire in the country and therefore, public and private infrastructure worth billions remain at risk.