By Thokozani Mazibuko
The Auditor General, Timothy Matsebula in his Financial Audit Report 2021-22 has questioned the purchase of E12 million worth of plumbing material which he said was lying idle at the Mbabane Government Hospital.
This was during the Ministry of Health’s appearance before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which is chaired by Mhlangatane Member of Parliament, Madala Mhlanga.
Matsanjeni South MP, Sabelo Ngcamphalala wanted to know from the Controlling Officer, Principal Secretary, Khanya Mabuza as to why did the ministry ordered such material if it had no plans to use it.
“How can the ministry procure so much plumbing material without any assessment? We need the Ministry to provide this committee with all relevant information and documents regarding the tender.
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Where is this material now, has it not been stolen? asked MP Ngcamphalala.
Dvokodvweni MP Sifiso Shabalala echoed the sentiments of his colleague and pointed out that there is an irregularity.
“Is the plumbing material still there, we aware of this tendency among civil servants to use Government materials to plumb their own houses.
“We need to see these plumbing materials soon,” MP Shabalala pointed out.
“The material was then given to Bio-Med and there is only 8 per cent of the material which is left at the Mbabane Government compound,” the PS responded.
Meanwhile, the members of the PAC questioned the exorbitant cost of an iron which cost the Government over E164 000.
“What kind of iron is this? I would like to see it for myself as I have never had an iron that cost so much.
The PS promised the PAC that he would be bringing the iron into the sitting today.
“Chairperson, this is an industrial iron, however, it was unfortunate that it could not be used as it is not compatible with the local electric supply, I will be bringing it tomorrow (today),” the PS told the PAC.
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On another note, the members of the PAC questioned the huge cost of fuel which was incurred in the financial period of 2021/22.
“During the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns, there was no travelling and I fail to understand or make sense as to why the ministry incurred an E1.4 million in purchasing fuel during this period.
Director of Health Services, Dr Velaphi Okello explained to the PAC that for the Ministry of Health, it was a different scenario during the Covid-19 pandemic period.
“We had to have as many cars as possible and we obtained them through partners as there was the Covid-19 response team which had a litany of visits to homes where people had contracted the pandemic.
artners were so generous to us as they would fill up the fuel tanks of the rented cars for the ministry to use.
It was when the cars’ fuel tanks ran out that we had to fill them up, however, because it was a long process to secure finance from the Government, we had the E3 million Grant which was available from the World Bank that had not been used for intended purpose yet,” the Dr clarified.
Dr Okello then pointed out that if it was not for the money from the World Bank, it would have been impossible for the response team to perform their task.
“The Covid-19 death statistic would have not been two per cent but it could have skyrocketed high if the money from the World Bank was not available.
The money was used to fuel the cars used by the response team and purchase some drugs for the Covid-19 patients,” Dr Okello further pointed out.
