EPTC ELDERLY GRANTS CONTRACT: PAC GRILLS DIRECTOR

LOBAMBA – The PAC yesterday came down like a ton of bricks on Director of Social Welfare Moses Dlamini, calling him incompetent.

This was after the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) expressed concern that the Deputy Prime Minister’s (DPM) Office had still not run an advert calling for the engagement of a new vendor for the elderly grants distribution yet the contract with Eswatini Post and Telecommunications Corporation (EPTC) was expiring at the end of May 31, 2019.

Irked

Instead, the director irked the committee when he said the DPM’s office had taken the advice of the PAC and was contemplating on giving EPTC a contract extension on the distribution of grants until the end of December 2019. However, PAC Chairperson Phila Buthelezi denied that they had ever advised the DPM’s office to give EPTC a contract extension and instead said they had asked them what steps they had taken to ensure that a new service provider, if that would be the case, was engaged.

Buthelezi said he had been looking at the newspapers with the hope of seeing a tender being advertised, but to date nothing had happened.
Manzini Region Member of Parliament (MP) Busisiwe Mavimbela shared similar sentiments in the sense that since the director knew very well that the contract would elapse soon, what steps had been taken to engage a new one. “You are clearly failing to do your job and I am very disappointed in you,” she said.

MP Buthelezi said the director needed to inform the PAC of the specific stages which had to be undertaken to get a new vendor instead of Dlamini just generalising that it was a very long process.

Engage

“Curiously, I want to know if you have even communicated with EPTC informing them that you may need to engage their services for a short period,” wondered MP Buthelezi.

He said in the event that EPTC was not willing to continue with the project, it would be the elderly who would suffer because in essence this meant that they would not receive their next quarterly grants. Dlamini said they had written to EPTC indicating their willingness to engange them on a short-term basis. However, after further grilling by the PAC, Dlamini admitted that the letter to EPTC was still in the office of the Principal Secretary, Khangeziwe Mabuza.

Denied

This was after the Under Secretary, Hlobisile Dlamini, denied any knowledge of the letter to EPTC and said the last formal correspondence was made in January 2019, where the government parastatal was made aware of the elapsing contract and that they should reconcile their books.

The PAC said it wanted written correspondence between the DPM’s office and the EPTC instead of verbal engagements. The director said he had written to the Ministry of Finance requesting for a release of the commitment of funds and thereafter they would engage the ESPPRA.

MP Buthelezi said this process should have long taken place and it was clear that the elderly would not be paid anytime soon during their next payment schedule.

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