PAC SITTINGS SUSPENDED INDEFINITELY

LOBAMBA – The ongoing sittings of the PAC came to an unceremonious end yesterday when the Chairperson, MP Phila Buthelezi, said they were suspended indefinitely.
PAC is the Public Accounts Committee.

MP Buthelezi did not forward the reason(s) for the sudden stopping of the sessions, and left all those present wondering what had happened.
The burning issue that was to be discussed yesterday was the Nhlangano-Gege-Sicunusa Road, where the auditor general uncovered that about E500 000 of taxpayers’ money went down the drain for the road which was not completed. The announcement of the halting of all PAC sittings was made after the committee had held a caucus which was about an hour long.    

Witnesses

Seven witnesses had been called to appear before the committee and these were former Ministers of Public Works and Transport Lindiwe Dlamini and Ntuthuko Dlamini.
However, Lindiwe who is now Senate President, was not present in the House of Assembly while Ntuthuko was  

Others who had been invited as witnesses were former Principal Secretary in the ministry Cyril Kunene, retired Chief Roads Engineer Trevor Tshabalala and Albert Dlamini.
Peter Ngwenya from Kukhanya Construction was also invited by the PAC, however, he was not present and instead three other representatives of Kukhanya, who was the contractor for the project, were present.
Sandile Makhubu from ZMCK Consulting (the project consultants) was also present.

It was after all the introductions were done, including that of the current PS in the ministry Makhosini Mndawe, that MP Buthelezi dropped the bombshell.
He first apologised to the gathering for the delay in holding the sitting.
He said as a committee, there were consultations which they were doing concerning the matter.
“We know that this has been an inconvenience, but unfortunately we will not be continuing with it for some reasons,” said MP Buthelezi.
He said the group was excused. 

However, this did not sit well with Ntuthuko, who said he was invited to be a witness in Parliament officially.
He said the dignity of Parliament was being compromised if the PAC would let them go without a proper explanation of what had made them reach the drastic decision.

MP Buthelezi interjected and said he greatly respected Ntuthuko, but he did not want to engage in a dialogue with him, because this was a matter they were working on and trying to fix.
MP Buthelezi further asked PS Mndawe to delegate someone who would pray.

However, Ntuthuko did not back down and said they had used their own money and resources to travel to Parliament and therefore there should be some form of compensation, especially since they were being dismissed without a proper explanation of what had happened.  The chairperson apologised to Ntuthuko again and assured him that it was not only this matter which was affected, but all future sittings of the PAC.

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