Home | News | STOP TRANSPORTING EMABUTFO IN GOVT CARS – MP

STOP TRANSPORTING EMABUTFO IN GOVT CARS – MP

Font size: Decrease font Enlarge font

LOBAMBA – Transporting Christians, Imbali and other regiments to national events is a waste of public funds.


This was said by Motshane Member of Parliament (MP) Robert Magongo, who told the Minister of Home Affairs Princess Lindiwe, that government should find other means of transporting people to national events.


“Ferrying people to Good Friday services, maidens for the Umhlanga ceremony is a drain to government coffers,” said Magongo.


Budget


This was during the debate of the ministry’s first quarter budget performance debate by the portfolio committee yesterday.
He said for seven years, he had been part of the regiments who went to cut Lusekwane, but not once did they travel in government vehicles.
MP Magongo said instead, government should engage the private sector or companies to assist them with this service.


He submitted that when accidents occurred during these events, government had to shoulder the blame.
“Some of the people end up not even attending the services and you find them loitering around the Somhlolo National Stadium. This must come to an end,” said Magongo. The MP highlighted that as a result, some government truck drivers had still not been paid overtime dating back to 2010 which created a negative impact on the delivery of services.


The ministry had highlighted that it had used a total of 156 vehicles to transport church members from the four regions of the country during the Easter Services in April 2019.


Sharing similar sentiments was Shiselweni Region MP Nokuthula Dlamini, who said all the trucks were utilised during the national events and, as a result, other government priorities suffered.


 She submitted that previously, she was in the teaching service sector and when they wanted to utilise government vehicles to carry textbooks or food items, there were usually none.


“It is indeed a drain because everything comes to a stop and all the available vehicles and fuel is allocated to national events,” said Dlamini.
On a different note, the portfolio committee complained about the state of roads, particularly those leading to the smaller border posts.


Officials


Kwaluseni MP Sibusiso Dlamini said these were the Bulembu, Ntsalitje and Lundzi Border Posts. He highlighted that  the Bulembu Post Immigration officials were nowhere to be seen and, as a result, the police were responsible for stamping passports which brought fear to tourists.


Nkwene MP Vulimpompi Nhleko said the ministry should liaise with the Ministry of Public Works and Transport to work on the roads to the smaller border posts because most of them were inaccessible. 

MP Magongo submitted that it was high time that the Ngwenya-Oshoek Border Gate was open 24 hours.
“We were grateful that the operational hours were extended to midnight, but you would make history if you would ensure that it operated 24 hours,” said Magongo.


Embarrassing


He added that the Immigration officers also needed to be purchased new uniforms as the ones they had were a mess and embarrassing.  Magongo submitted that their South African counterparts always looked presentable yet the local officers would wear their own T-shirts which were not uniform.


Meanwhile, Timpisini MP Nelson Mamba complained about the lack of parking at the Matsanjeni Border Post.
He also urged the minister to engage the Public Works Ministry to create better parking.
He also asked that the operating hours be extended.

Comments (0 posted):

Post your comment comment

Please enter the code you see in the image: