Times Of Swaziland: SIKHUPHE RESIDENTS DEMAND E80M COMPENSATION

SIKHUPHE RESIDENTS DEMAND E80M COMPENSATION
================================================================================
BY WELCOME DLAMINI on 01/10/2017 03:33:00


MBABANE – One of Swaziland’s most celebrated projects in the turn of the
millennium – the King Mswati III International Airport – has brought nothing
but misery to hundreds of residents of Sikhuphe, in Malindza, where the airfield
was constructed.
To this date, the residents have not received any cent for their relocation
despite a consultant’s recommendation that a sum of E73 million be allocated
for the resettlement of 188 homesteads that fell within the airport city
boundary. As a result, about 250 homesteads of Malindza have since sought the
services of Mbabane-based lawyer Bongani Mdluli of Bongani G. Mdluli &
Associates to demand total compensation of the sum of E80 million from the
Swaziland Civil Aviation Authority (SWACAA).
While the sounds and colourful display of firecrackers filled the skies of the
rural area during the airport’s launch by His Majesty King Mswati III on March
7, 2014, the hundreds of residents had little to celebrate because the
multi-million project resulted in them being resettled without the promised
compensation. Mdluli has now written a letter, which the Times SUNDAY has seen,
to SWACAA Director General Solomon Dube, demanding payment of the E80m.
Recalling the residents’ plight, Mdluli narrated in the letter that ever since
commencement of the project in 2001, the residents have had several meetings
with SWACAA , in particular one on May 28, 2015 at Malindza chiefdom where
SWACAA made an unequivocal undertaking that it was intending to review the
2001/2002 Sikhuphe Resettlement Plan Report.
The report had reportedly commenced during the implementation of the Sikhuphe
International Airport development. In that meeting, SWACAA is said to have been
represented by Project Planner Fikisile Dlamini, Assistant Project Planner
Wandile Dlamini and Project Engineer B. Khilinyawo.