Home | News | GOVT SPENDS E3.7M ON LEAKING HOUSE

GOVT SPENDS E3.7M ON LEAKING HOUSE

03/03/2019 03:30:00 BY MFANUKHONA NKAMBULE

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mfanukhona@times.co.sz

MBABANE –Was government given a raw deal? It has emerged that the four-bedroom house bought in 2009 by government to accommodate Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku cost the taxpayer E2.6 million.

Worryingly, after the purchase, a sum of E977 000 was spent on renovating the house, which up to now has not been fully rehabilitated.
It has been established that the taxpayer has spent E3.4 million on purchasing and maintaining the house respectively. This excludes the E180 000, which the current lessee, Robert Atwell, understandably paid from his pocket to finance the endless renovations.

If Atwell’s money is to be included, it would mean E3.7 million has been spent on the purchase, and rehabilitation exercise respectively.
Media reports indicate that the then Public Accounts Committee (PAC) led by Thuli Dladla, now Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, discovered that E797 000 was spent on rehabilitating the dilapidating property.

Asked if the house was fit for human occupation, Atwell mentioned that it still needed some facelift. It effectively means government would have to spend more on the house if it were to keep it as one of its immovable assets.
However, Neal Rijkenberg, the Minister of Finance, said moves were afoot to dispose of certain government assets. It is not certain at this stage if the Waterford Park house will be sold.

“You can get details from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, but I have spent a lot of money from my personal pocket, trying to fix the house,” said Atwell.
Documents in the possession of this newspaper reveal that government bought the house from A &A Properties (Proprietary) Limited. The company was represented by Andrianus Jacobus Maria Vriend in his capacity as director when it sold the property to government.

The company took the resolution to sell the house to government on June 11, 2009. The size of the land is 5 616 square metres.
The Times SUNDAY reported last week that the four-bedroom spacious house bought by government about seven years ago to specifically accommodate Masuku did not serve its intended purpose.

monthly rentals collected

This was due to the fact that the house was a residence for a non-civil servant, Atwell, who claimed he had been paying monthly rentals to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development for the past two years.
He said he paid E13 000 per month directly to the ministry.

Due to the shortage of accommodation, Masuku has reportedly converted his private home in Mbabane to an official residence. As a result of this arrangement, government must pay him a monthly allowance of E17 369.43, which is 25 per cent of his basic salary of E69 477.75 per month.

The housing allowance is based on Article 4.6.1 of Finance Circular No.2 of 2013. For using his house, the DPM is expected to get E208 433.16 per annum, translating to E1 042 165.00 in five years. The term of office for politicians is five years.

Since Atwell pays E13 000 per month, it effectively means government makes a loss of E4 369 per month (E17 369 –E13 000); translating to E52 433 per year, and E262 165.50 in five years.

Contrastingly, in rentals, the house has a potential to raise E780 000 in five years. It was mentioned that had the house been renovated on time to fit the standard of the fourth most important person in the political hierarchy of the country, the taxpayer would not be paying the monthly allowance of E17 369, which runs into a million Emalangeni in five years.

DPM happy at home

Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku said he was happily staying at his home, and would not want to talk about the house he once occupied because issues of accommodation fell outside his jurisdiction. “I cannot comment on the issue of accommodation.

The only thing I can say to you is that I am happy where I stay – at my home, and I can even plant trees in the yard,” the soft spoken DPM said.
It must be said that Masuku’s predecessor, Paul Dlamini, also did not use the house, resulting in government securing a rental apartment for him in Thembelihle, Mbabane.

Dlamini declined to comment on the matter on the grounds that he was no longer an active politician.
Khangezile Mabuza, the Principal Secretary in the DPM’s office, said the house, as a matter of fact, did not actually belong to her portfolio even though the current deputy prime minister once occupied it.

She said it belonged to government, and it is under the custody of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. The principal secretary pointed out that the DPM was happy where he lived.

She added that there was currently no designated house for the DPM. “As soon as we get an official house for the deputy prime minister, he (DPM) will be expected to move in. At the moment we don’t have an official house for the DPM,” he said.

Cabinet allowed leasing

Lungelo Nkambule, the Communication Officer of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, said government did not lease its houses to civil servants. She said there was also no regulation that inhibited government from leasing its properties to private entities/citizens.

Nkambule disclosed that it was a Cabinet decision that allowed for this current arrangement on the basis of particular circumstances, which existed at the time. “It follows that if govt is leasing the property to the individual, any dues will be for the benefit of government,” she said.

Under normal circumstances, it is the Ministry of Public Service that is responsible for the upkeep of government houses. It is not clear how and why this house was left under the care of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.
Evart Madlopha, the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service, was not helpful in terms of details, except to play safe, and referred enquiries to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.

Asked if there would be a need to sell the house, he referred enquiries to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.
Sikelela Dlamini, the Secretary General of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), said the arrangement was poor because the house was never bought for commercial purposes.

Dlamini said any Cabinet decision that made government to make a loss was not good, particularly at the time when the country’s economy was dismally ailing. “We are being pock-pocketed by the government here,” he said.

He said it looked as though government has plenty of houses for high ranking officers. “That’s why they lease out the houses. Teachers are sharing houses but there’s a house that government has leased out to a private citizen,” he said.
He urged Masuku as a senior politician to address this anomaly.