More than half of the
companies providing security services to government ministries and public
enterprises in Swaziland / Eswatini have been found to be corrupt and engaged
in fraudulent activities, according to an official report.
They have forged or
obtained through corruption certificates falsely stating they comply with the
kingdom’s labour laws. Corruption is said to be rife.
This was revealed by the
Swaziland Public Procurement Agency (SPPRA) in a study of the kingdom’s private
security industry. The industry is marred by serious irregularities, and lack
of regulation.
SPPRA said four of 12
tenders issued by parastatals in one month were for the provision of security
services, an industry whose operations have been found to be marred by serious
irregularities, including the lack of regulation.
Private security companies
were also found to be involved in illegal behaviour such as under-pricing,
early termination of contracts and overpricing its tenders to clients.
The Swazi Observer newspaper reported on Monday (30 July 2018) some security
companies were found in possession of authentic documents such as those issued
by the Swaziland National Provident Fund, labour compliance certificates and
others, despite these companies ‘glaringly not being compliant with the law’.
Corruption is believed to be widespread in Swaziland
where King Mswati III rules as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. In December 2017, Swaziland’s Anti-Corruption
Commission issued a report suggesting that 79
percent of 3,090 people interviewed in a survey believed that corruption within
government was ‘rife’.
The survey suggested that
corruption was perceived to take place mostly in rural councils. The perceived
major causes of corruption were poverty (58 percent), unemployment (54 percent)
and greed (41 percent). The survey was conducted by the Swazi Ministry of
Justice and Constitutional Affairs through the ACC.
In June 2017, the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) reported
the kingdom, was riddled with corruption in both private and public places.
It said, ‘The results of
grand corruption are there for all to see in the ever increasing wealth of
high-level civil servants and officers of state.’
It added, ‘For a long time
the police, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and
Trade as well as the Department of Customs and Excise have often been implicated
in corrupt practices.’
It gave many examples
including the case of the government propaganda organisation Swaziland
Broadcasting and Information Service (SBIS) where E 1.6 million was
paid to service providers for the maintenance of a machine that was neither
broken nor in use. The officer who
authorised the bogus job cards has since been promoted and transferred to
another government department.
The report called The effectiveness of anti-corruption agencies in Southern
Africa stated, ‘This type of behaviour is common
albeit covert and therefore difficult to monitor as goods and services are
undersupplied or rerouted for personal use. The results of grand corruption are
there for all to see in the ever increasing wealth of high-level civil servants
and officers of state.’
See also
Swaziland ‘Riddled With Corruption’
https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/swaziland-riddled-with-corruption.html
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