Times Of Swaziland: 54 DAMNING RECORDINGS IN MATSAPHA PROBE

54 DAMNING RECORDINGS IN MATSAPHA PROBE
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BY SIBUSISO ZWANE on 12/02/2019 00:41:00


MATSAPHA – The wild allegations continue at Matsapha Town Council as some
witnesses claim the council is working in a state of capture.
To start with,  Councillor Mfanufikile Dlamini, who was first to appear before
the commission of inquiry yesterday, claimed that he used to only hear about
state capture from the media and said by then, he did not know what it was until
he allegedly saw it taking place in Matsapha Town Council.
Thereafter, before expanding on the issue, the councillor asked to officially
submit a total of 54 recorded phone calls to the commissioners. He claimed that
the recorded phone conversations would assist the commissioners in getting a
clear picture of what was happening in Matsapha Town Council. “The council was
captured,” he alleged.
He claimed that this was because there was a prominent businessman, Tommy Kirk,
who wanted council to do things his way and was allegedly using some
councillors. All the submissions made before the inquiry remain allegations, as
their veracity is yet to tested and the parties concerned remain innocent until
proven otherwise. Before submitting the recordings to the commissioners, the
councillor asked to play at least three of them but he was given a chance to
pick only one.
However, when he played the audio recording of a phone call between well-known
businessman Tommy Kirk and Councillor Bongani Mkhatshwa, constant power cuts
disturbed it before much could be heard from it. As a result, the commissioners
ordered the councillor to just submit the audios and promised that they would
listen to all of them.
media
He then added that the phone recordings would give them a clear picture that
what happened in council was planned, and that Matsapha Town Council was where
it was now because of the prominent businessman, who allegedly wanted to do
things his way. He alleged that it would also prove that the media was also
captured.