PS BERTRAM IRKS PAC MEMBERS, APOLOGISES

MBABANE – Principal Secretary (PS) for Private and Cabinet Office Bertram Stewart had to apologise after he and members of the PAC clashed regarding an unfulfilled recommendation to establish a policy for state funerals.

This happened yesterday during the appearance of the Private and Cabinet Office before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). The committee had sought feedback regarding a recommendation that was made after the Auditor General (AG), Timothy Matsebula, raised a query that about E1 million that was paid for the state funeral of the late Prime Minister, Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini.

When the AG sought answers on the issue after discovering the anomaly at the time, the response given was that only E165 088.09 of the funds was utilised for the state funeral since the office received donations from the private sector and that the balance was then used to cater for other needs of the office. It was then recommended that the controlling officer, that being the PS, should be fined E400 for flouting government financial regulations in that the E1 million had been allocated to cater for the preparations of the late PM’s funeral, but was used to pay other debts of the office. The PAC then recommended that a policy be put in place to regulate State funerals so that beneficiaries could be treated equally.

Policy

During the sitting yesterday, the PAC sought feedback on how far the office had gone in as far as putting the policy in place was concerned. A letter dated May 2024 containing the feedback was shared with the PAC and the committee asked to know why it had taken so long to work on the issue. PAC Chairperson Madala Mahlanga said he was concerned that the letter could have been crafted just to evade questions from the committee. In response, Stewart explained that the letter came as a result of negotiations that had been ongoing. He said even if he wanted to evade questions from the PAC, it did not make sense since it was now July and the letter was dated May.

“It suffices to say that I may also be affected by the policy you are asking for so I cannot just take a decision on it on my own,” the PS submitted. PAC member and Matsanjeni South MP Sabelo Ndlangamandla reminded the PS that the recommendation was clear that the PS needed to come up with a policy to regulate state funerals.Ndlangamandla said available documents reflected that the PS had written to the minister of Finance regarding the issue, that since there was no feedback on when the policy will come into effect, it was a concern.
PAC Deputy Chairperson Manzi Zwane also made a submission, where he cautioned the PS against acting as if he had done something big by writing to the minister of Finance. “The letter is dated May 24, this is not right because this is an old matter. I am of the view that the PS did not do his job and he must, therefore, be punished,” Zwane submitted.

Clarity

At that point, the PS sought clarity on why he should be punished. He asked to know if he should be punished for the fact that the minister of Finance had not responded or because the process of formulating the policy had not started. MP Zwane responded by saying that the PS should be punished for the slow pace as the recommendation was made in 2022. On the other hand, MP Ndlangamandla said any resolution made by the PAC had to be complied with and that whoever did not comply needed to be punished.

Again, the PS tried to reason with the PAC members by saying that while he had no powers to object to being punished, there was a need to consider the fact that he was never given a timeframe to act on the resolution. Ndlangamandla submitted that the PS should admit that he had not complied and the latter tried to respond and did so without getting permission from the PAC chairperson to speak. This seemingly caused the clash as MP Ndlangamandla simply stood up and walked out of the chambers. The PAC chairperson then spoke and condemned the actions of both the PS and that of Ndlangamandla. “As stakeholders, we all have a duty to respect this sitting. Let us learn to control our emotions. It was wrong for the PS to interject while the MP was making a submission and the latter was also on the wrong for walking out. I hope he is just going to cool off and will return so that we can all work in harmony,” said the chairperson.

Disrespectful

Zwane also spoke saying he had never seen what the PS had done and that it was unacceptable and disrespectful. The chairperson then asked the PS to put his apology on record, which he calmly did. On another note, when making his closing remarks, the PS spoke in jest saying he was at times not happy with how the AG conducts his work. The PS likened the scenario to one where the AG showed a person a photograph that reflected only half the face and insisted that it was them. He said even if the person could argue that it was not them on the photograph the AG would insist otherwise. As the rest of the officers departed the chambers, both the PS and the AG engaged on the issue and the latter explained that his office was guided by procedures and that it gave itself enough time to get clarity on every query.

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