By Thokozani Mazibuko
With job applicants seeking police clearance certificates before a person is hired, some unemployed people are pleading with the Eswatini Government to consider decentralizing the Fingerprint Bureau based at the Royal Eswatini Police Headquarters in Mbabane.
They have suggested that the Fingerprint Bureau which is responsible for producing police clearances to the public, should be made available at all the REPS Regional Head Offices in all the four regions of the country.
Regional REPS Headquarters Offices can be found in the Hhohho, Manzini, Lubombo and Shiselweni Regions.
Bongane Nyawo (32), who is a resident of Lavumisa in the Shiselweni Region, has disclosed that he hails from one of the remote communities called Mbava at Lavumisa and he said that he has missed out on numerous job opportunities as it has proved to be costly for him to travel to Mbabane to get the Police Clearances.
“I have received many invitations to a job interview where I was instructed to bring a Police Clearance. For me, travelling to Mbabane is very expensive because I am unemployed. Transport fares amount to E180 and also the E35 fee charged by the Government in attaining the clearance,” Nyawo said.
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Currently, individuals seeking Police Clearances are required to pay E35 and make their way to the Royal Eswatini Police Service’s Headquarters in Mbabane.
This centralized process has posed challenges for many residents, particularly those residing outside the Hhohho Region.
“Just last week, I was called by a certain company whereby I was instructed to bring the Police Clearance and I had to borrow money from my neighbour only to be told that the Fingerprint machine had developed mechanical problems. I had to travel back home and return the following day and still, I was told that the problem has not been fixed,” Nyawo pointed out.
Further, Nyawo told Eswatini on Sunday that he has since been told that the company has already employed another individual since he failed to bring the required Police Clearance on time.
The calls for decentralisation are being championed by the unemployed population who believe that the current system disproportionately affects them, making it difficult and costly to access essential documentation for job applications and other official purposes.
Police Clearances are essential in helping to reduce the risk of theft, fraud, and other criminal activities performed by potential new employees.
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In industries where employees work with children, the elderly, or other vulnerable groups, police checks play a vital role in ruling out employing people who are past offenders.
Govt should decentralise all services – MP Khungankosi
Mayiwane Member of Parliament, Sicelo Khungankosi Dlamini has called upon the Government to be practical and actually make sure all services are decentralized.
“It is not only fingerprints, imagine a person travelling from Mayiwane and only to be told that there is no network at Mbabane. It would have been better and costless if that person had been informed earlier even before boarding the Bus to Mbabane. The Tinkhundla System of Government is designed in a way that all services, fingerprints, passports, Identity documents, trading licenses are easily accessible where the people are,” the legislator pointed out.
Moreover, the Eswatini Government stated in earlier reports that decentralisation is a process that was commissioned by the King and entrenched in the country’s Constitution as the basis of the country’s system of government.
It is worth mentioning that in His Majesty King Mswati III’s Speech from the Throne when he closed the People’s Parliament, he called upon the government to ensure that decentralization was prioritised.
