MINISTER NEAL ORDERS MVA TO PAY FOR AIR TICKETS

MBABANE - Hold your horses! The Minister of Finance, Neal Rijkenberg, brought to a screeching halt a joyride to Namibia by employees of the Sincephetelo Motor Accident Fund (SMVAF).

The employees were to fly from South Africa’s prestigious OR Tambo International Airport to Namibia for inter-Fund games, at the expense of the fund.
However, when the Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Sizakele Dlamini, reported about the trip to the minister, he stopped them dead on their tracks on enjoying an all-expenses paid trip. This has been confirmed by minister Rijkenberg.

It has been gathered that some members of the SMVAF Board of Directors also took part in the trip.
The employees left the country on May 2, 2019 and travelled to Johannesburg where they caught a flight to Hosea (Kutako) Airport in Namibia.
Members of the organising committee left before the rest of the employees.

They all returned to the country on Tuesday.
Information gathered is that the employees would have enjoyed the ride and the fund would have incurred some of their flight costs, had the minister not interfered.

When the minister stepped in, the cost of the air tickets had already been taken care of by the fund, and it was then agreed that the employees would pay back all the money to their employer in instalments.

Chairman not aware

The Chairman of the SMVAF Board, Zithulele Gina, was called for comment on the matter on April 18, and he promised that he would investigate, as he was not aware.
The inter-fund games and CEO’s Forum, according to SMVAF’s Corporate Communications Manager Makhosi Magongo, have been in existence for over 10 years, consisting of similar funds from Eswatini, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.

“We have been hosts to these games, as they are held on rotational basis. The four countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), during games held in Eswatini in 2010, to formalise their working relationship. It allows for information sharing on best practices, benchmarking across the various divisions of our business. as well as fostering regional integration, hence the birth of the SADC MVA Forum, which now brings together Lesotho, Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi,” he said.

He said the purpose of this gathering, and SMVAF’s participation (in the SADC Forum) was to try and ensure that emaSwati travelling to any of these countries have adequate cover and access to post-crash assistance, in case they were involved in road accidents while travelling to any of these countries.
The board chairman also asked that since the matter was operational, questions should be forwarded to either the CEO or the Corporate Communications manager.

In his response, which was received last week, Magongo confirmed that some employees of the Fund travelled to Namibia for the 2019 Inter Fund Games.

Times SUNDAY misinformed
He said not all staff would be leaving, to allow for normal business to go on undisturbed.
He explained that the three-day event encompassed social events as well as a high level business meeting, wherein issues of mutual interest were discussed and programmes for regional integration (focusing on best practices in accident rehabilitation and compensation, and cross border road safety) were initiated and evaluated.

Magongo said the Times SUNDAY had been misinformed, and that the fund would not incur any flight expenses.
“The travelling team will drive to OR Tambo to catch a flight to Windhoek. Flights expenses will be incurred by individual employees. A return ticket (OR Tambo to and From Windhoek) costs E6 100,” he said.

He said the rationale for air travel is that it would reduce travel time so that the team is back in time to serve claimants.

who will pay for air ticktes
Magongo further explained that employees would be paying for their flights expenses, hence details to how they pay, and terms thereto, if any, would be best answered by individual employees as that bordered on personal finances.
SMVAF is currently the subject of a Cabinet-sanctioned investigation regarding an amount of about E14 million that was paid out to the organisation’s employees as part of a salary review exercise.
The investigation has resulted in talks over a new contract for Helmon Vilakati to continue as CEO being stalled until the probe reaches conclusion.

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