MINISTER CONCERNED RSTP MAKING NO MONEY IN 12yrs

MBABANE – Minister of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) Savannah Maziya has appointed a new Board of Directors for the RSTP, with strict instructions to lead with integrity and honesty.

She said she was concerned that 12 years down the line, the Royal Science and Technology Park (RSTP) had not made the money that it was supposed to make.  She said the institution was supposed to be making a lot of money and attracting investors. The new Board will be led by Tshidi Masisi-Hlanze, an accomplished attorney, with vast experience locally and in Botswana.  Its nine members include five women and four men. The new Board replaces former Board members, who included Walter Bennett, S’thofeni Ginindza, Madoda Mdziniso, Gugu Sibandze and Simile Muwape. The minister described the new Board as ‘well-experienced’ from legal, finance to strategy development. She said it also had vast knowledge of ICT and was composed of women and the youth.

“Our understanding and instruction is that they deal with this institution with honesty, integrity and reliability. This is a very important institution for the country. We need to ensure that we make it an engine room for growth; to attract ICT investors, to strengthen our offering and to ensure that it becomes an attractive institution to investors and emaSwati alike,” she said.
The minister said the RSTP must be run professionally to deliver on its mandate and must have a proper strategy and executive. “It must be run in a professional way, in collaboration with the many institutions that are part of the ministry, so that it is able to get and give as much value,” she said. She said she was concerned that the RSTP had not completed some of the buildings that were critical.

“Those things are very important. I’m also concerned that 12 years down the line, we have not made the money that we should be making. I think that we are an institution that should be attracting investors and making a lot of money,” she said. She implored the new Board to ensure that the RSTP team worked hard to make emaSwati proud of the institution. “What I ask of you is please be honest, please have integrity. Make this institution deliver what it is supposed to deliver,” she said. The Chairperson of the Board, Masisi-Hlanze, has extensive experience in commercial law, property law, company law and conveyancing, spanning for more than 30 years. She was admitted to practice as an Attorney in Botswana on October 30, 1981. She was admitted to practice as an Attorney in Swaziland (now Eswatini) on July 31, 1985 and as a conveyancer on March 31, 1999. She is currently a managing partner at Masisi-Hlanze Attorneys in association with Henwood & Company. The new Board will be in office for three years.

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