SWEET MEMBERS SMELL RAT AS NO ARRESTS MADE

MANZINI - Women who invested in the defunct Swaziland Women Economic Empowerment Trust (SWEET) Microfinance smell a rat in terms of getting answers and justice.

This comes four months after members of SWEET were told that there were criminal activities which took place in the organisation and further assured that the police would be tasked with bringing the culprits to book, but nothing fruitful had happened. In fact, they were specific that no arrests had been made so far, yet evidence was allegedly documented. SWEET Microfinance (PTY) LTD is an organisation which was established in April 2015 and registered under certificate of incorporation No. 2235/2014. It is a company under SWEET and its Patron was Her Majesty the Queen Mother. It was established as one of the national economic empowerment initiatives that emanated from the Eswatini Women’s Decade Plan of Action of 2010.

Savings

Members were saving at least E100 per month and were supposed to borrow money based on their savings. They were also promised that they would get dividends annually. However, early in 2019, some felt that there was nothing sweet with the organisation as they did not get anything from it. As such, some of the aggrieved members flocked the organisation’s offices in Manzini, where they demanded their monies they had invested over the past years - since 2011. In 2020, some members of SWEET from Mkhiweni Constituency approached their Member of Parliament (MP) Michael Masuku. Later on, the MP tried to move a motion about the status of SWEET in Parliament and he was allegedly told to stop because utsintsa sikhehle sabomanyovu (inviting trouble). It is said that some constituents from Mkhiweni Inkhundla had invested over E5 000 each.

Later on, some SWEET members launched an online petition where they demanded that the people responsible for taking their monies should be taken to task. Following the online petition, the Central Bank of Eswatini conducted investigations into the organisation together with the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA). It was reported that there was about E27 million at Swaziland Building Society, which had the SWEET members’ names on it. On November 24, 2021, the CBE and FSRA issued a joint statement where they informed the nation that the investigation of SWEET and Sweet Micro Finance (SMF) had been completed. It said the findings and conclusions showed that there were signs of criminal activities, dishonesty and deliberate non-observance of corporate governance among the Board, management and agents of the organisation and related stakeholders.

The statement also said the investigation report and all relevant supporting documents would be handed over to the relevant law enforcement agencies for consideration and further appropriate action with regard to the elements of criminality observed during the investigation. In December 2021, the bank said it had recommended that individuals who were identified to have participated in or benefitted from fraudulent activities should be referred to the relevant law enforcement agencies for criminal investigation and/or prosecution. CBE Senior Communications and Internal Relations Officer Lindokuhle Sithole said the findings, which were specific to elements of criminal activities, had been handed over to the relevant law enforcement agencies. However, Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati, who was asked how far the police investigations on the matter had gone, said she would not disclosed developments of an investigation. She added that they could not say how much time it would take for the police to conclude the investigation as such cases differed.

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