Corruption was widespread in Swaziland / eSwatini
during 2018, a new report on human rights abuses in the kingdom reveals.
The United
States Department of State reported, ‘there was a widespread
public perception of corruption in the executive and legislative branches of
government and a consensus that the government did little to combat it’.
The annual
report on human rights stated, ‘There were widespread
reports of immigration and customs officials seeking bribes to issue government
documents such as visas and resident permits. In March police raided the
Department of Immigration, where they confiscated files and arrested and
charged two senior immigration officers. The government filed charges against
one of the senior officers based on allegations she had processed applications
for travel documents for foreign nationals who were not present in, and had
never visited, the country.’
It added, ‘Credible reports continued that a person’s
relationship with government officials influenced the awarding of government
contracts; the appointment, employment, and promotion of officials; recruitment
into the security services; and school admissions. Authorities rarely took
action on reported incidents of nepotism.’
This is not the first report on corruption in
Swaziland issued this year. In January 2019 Transparency
International scored the kingdom, ruled by King Mswati III as
an absolute monarch, 38 out of a possible 100 in its Corruption Perceptions Index for
2018. In this
scale zero is ‘highly corrupt’ and 100 is ‘very clean’. The index ranks
countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to
experts and businesspeople.
In November 2018 national police Deputy Commissioner Mumcy Dlamini told
an event for International Fraud Awareness Week Swaziland
lost E30 million from the economy because of banking fraud alone
during the previous year.
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
Auditor General fears fraud as govt pensions paid to the deceased
New drive against corruption in Swaziland leaves out
King Mswati, the biggest drain on the public purse
https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/11/new-drive-against-corruption-in.html
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