PROBE EEC – ROBERT MAGONGO

LOBAMBA – Probe the Eswatini Electricity Company (EEC).  This submission was made by Motshane MP Robert Magongo yesterday during the debate of the Ministry of Finance first quarter budget performance report in the House of Assembly.

The MP told  Minister Neal Rijkenberg to, as soon as possible, set up a tribunal that would probe EEC, particularly it’s Board of Directors.
He directed this to the Finance minister as he was the one in charge of the Public Enterprise Unit (PEU).

Magongo alleged that there was a lot of corruption going on at the company and that tenders were being given under shady circumstances.
He informed the minister that EEC was currently spending company resources on adverts in both national newspapers trying to protect themselves.
MP Magongo first asked to declare that he once supplied EEC.

“They were called by the Eswatini Public Procurement Regulatory Agency (ESPPRA) to talk to them on how they hired a certain company to institute a forensic investigation on allegations of theft or fraud, but they refused to appear before it,” said Magongo.

MP Magongo alleged they did not even tender for the forensic investigation and instead they hired ‘sigebengu or lotsotsi’.
He said the appointed tribunal should call on the management and Board to answer on several allegations.

One of these was that a former MD of EEC wanted to trade with the government parastatal.
He alleged that about three weeks ago, the very MD’s company was awarded a tender of about E221 million.
He said some managers at EEC were also suspended because they had questioned a E120 million tender.

Tribunal

Magongo said the tribunal must also include a Member of Parliament, but not particularly himself.
“They are busy issuing statements to try and clear their name as if abagangi (not involved in questionable activities),” said Magongo.
He alleged that the former MD was friends with the Board chairperson.

“Kuyagangwa kule live leli (there are a lot of criminal activities in this country),” said Magongo.
The minister said they would look into the matter, and that government was definitely concerned about any issues of alleged wrongdoing being reported.

Meanwhile, in its statement, EEC said following the investigation report, the company would like to notify the public and stakeholders that the matters had since been handed over to law enforcement agencies for criminal and civil action taken by the company.

EEC further said several Eswatini owned companies were implicated in the instances where fraud appeared to have been committed and in some cases, the EEC had incurred possible overcharges by suppliers.
Although MP Magongo said he was willing to testify, it didn’t mean that his company was involved.
The company, in its public statement, indicated that what had been disclosed about the forensic investigation was an abridged version of the Prodogy report as publishing the full report could jeopardise the ongoing civil action.

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