Times Of Swaziland: OUTCRY OVER E11M PROPERTY FOR NURSES’ UNION

OUTCRY OVER E11M PROPERTY FOR NURSES’ UNION
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BY Zwelakhe Moahloli on 15/06/2019 00:07:00


MBABANE – An acquisition of a property worth approximately E11.2 million was
expected to bring smiles, but is said to be dividing nurses.
It is said that the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Swaziland Democratic
Nurses Union (SWADNU) recently bought a piece of land without the approval of
its membership.
The union has over 2 000 members. An impeccable source within the union revealed
that they were informed about the resolution on Tuesday during a National
General Council Meeting that was held at Shosholoza Pre-school.
“The report given to us yesterday (Tuesday), said they had purchased it. They
showed us some documents, but we were not privy to read through the papers.
“Verbally, they told us they had concluded the deal. The property is worth
E11.2 million,” the insider said.
The source said they were informed that the property which had structures, was
situated around Thembelihle, in Mbabane.
Giving a brief background, the insider said around May last year, the executive
suggested that the organisation should purchase property.
“However, we raised concerns that we have a plot which houses one of our
projects, the Wellness Centre. We asked, ‘why don’t we develop that plot?’
response
“Their response was that, ‘it’s expensive to develop a plot, and financial
institutions do not finance such projects. It was better to purchase an existing
structure’. We then mandated them to scout for properties,” the source
alleged.
The insider mentioned that the executive indicated that they were targeting two
plots which were situated in Mbabane and Manzini.
The source alleged that about a month ago, during nurses’ day, the president
announced that a plot had been purchased in Mbabane.
“It transpired that the property he was talking about was not one of the two
plots they had discussed,” the source said.
Adding, the insider said a confirmation of the purchase was also made during the
general council meeting on Tuesday.
Asked if they enquired from the executive why it rushed into making a purchase
without reverting to the membership, the source responded: “Batsi beseku
phutfuma kakhulu.”
“They said the democratic process of consulting with the membership would be
too long because they would lose the deal,” the source said.
criticism
During the Tuesday meeting, the source alleged that some members of the
executive openly stated that they were ready for criticism.
This did not go down well with some of the nurses’ representatives, the source
alleged.
Asked if they were given an opportunity to question the acquisition, the source
alleged that the matter was not given much attention.
“It was unfortunate that the financial report was not presented so that we
could get a feel on how much we were expected to contribute.
“Secondly, there is a question among the membership as to how one could buy a
property when they were about to exit office in the next three months?” the
sourced said.
resolved
Asked what they had resolved as members, the source said they had not reached a
decision yet.
However, the source said they were informed that the property would be leased
out in order to generate income.
Bheki Mamba, the President of SWADNU confirmed that they just acquired the
property.
However, Mamba said he was not in a position to disclose the name of the seller
at the moment.
He said the property was situated in Mbabane, without giving the exact location.
“It’s true we did not engage them.  We took the decision hoping that we
would explain during the general council meeting,” he said.
apologised
Mamba explained that when the council eventually sat they did explain and also
apologised to the members.
He said they had previously indicated the structures they intended to purchase.
“Two were in Manzini and one in Mbabane.
‘‘Then, the general council said it would be important to view these
properties first before taking decision. The reason of meeting before purchasing
was that the structures looked old.”
He said what eventually happened was that they decided not to purchase any of
the presented properties but instead, they bought a newly-established property.
“It is true we did not engage them because the council had not sat. Our
general council meets twice a year. This is why we took the decision as the
national leadership because we do have the powers,” he stated.
The president alleged that the general accepted their apology, and it approved
that NEC should go ahead with the project.