THE BATTLE FOR THE SOUL OF RSTP

MBABANE – The appointment of Sithofeni Ginindza and Walter Bennett into the Royal Science and Technology Park (RSTP) Board of Directors has reportedly been met with fierce resistance by some of the institution’s stakeholders.

As a result, the Board has not held a single meeting ever since the duo was announced as new directors by Acting Minister of ICT Manqoba Khumalo almost two months ago.
Reports indicate that Minister Khumalo and Principal Secretary Maxwell Masuku have been part of the meetings with the relevant stakeholders, to try and get the Board to function but these efforts have so far failed to yield any results.

Function

Ginindza is the new Chairperson while Bennett is a member. They were appointed alongside Chief Officer in the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force (UEDF) Prince Hlangusemphi and University of Eswatini (UNESWA) Research Fellow Dr Gugu Sibandze. Hlangusemphi is also former Minister of Economic Planning and Development, a position he occupied from 2008 to 2018. Sibandze is currently the Director of EIRMIP at UNESWA and she holds a PhD in Natural Products Chemistry and Pharmacognocy. She obtained her BSc in Chemistry and Biological Sciences at UNESWA. The failure by the Board to hold meetings is said to be causing delays in a number of initiatives, especially procurement decisions that have to be made.
Impeccable sources disclosed that there are cliques that want to ‘fix’ the Board’s complement to better serve their interests. One of these cliques is reportedly not comfortable with the two.

Position

Ginindza was appointed Board Chairperson to replace Dr Phindile Masangane, the director of the Petroleum Agency of South Africa (PASA), who was allegedly pressured into resigning from the position. While at the helm of RSTP, questions were raised over Masangane’s nationality, with unsubstantiated allegations that she had denounced her Eswatini citizenship and was now a South African citizen. This publication is conducting an intensive investigation into other allegations associated with Masangane’s stepping down as Board chairperson. Masangane resigned together with Professor Theodore Davis – an American who, at some point, worked for the University of Eswatini (UNESWA) as a lecturer.

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