Swazi Observer

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CABINET APPROVES NEW ESWATINI TV CEO

By KWANELE DHLADHLA AND SABELO NDZINISA | 2022-08-25

Almost two years of dilly-dallying and starting afresh the recruitment twice, government has finally endorsed Andreas Dlamini as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Eswatini Television Authority (ESTVA).

Dlamini is set to be unveiled as successor to Bongani Austin ‘S’gcokosiyancinca’ Dlamini who retired on January 31, 2021.

Eswatini Observer has been reliably informed that the ministry of information, communication and technology’s (ICT) recommendation of Andreas’s name got the nod at Cabinet on Tuesday. Dlamini, who has previously served as a Board member at the national broadcaster, was also endorsed by the Standing Committee on Public Enterprises (SCOPE).

The recruitment exercise for this position has been nothing short of controversy with Kenneth Maziya at the helm, albeit on acting basis for the past 18 months. Maziya was also one of the candidates interviewed for the CEO position.

When asked what had been the outcome of the Cabinet meeting where the name of Andreas Dlamini had been submitted for approval, ICT Principal Secretary (PS) Phesheya Dube could neither confirm nor deny the matter.

“The announcement will be made when all due processes have been completed,” Dube briefly said.
Chairman of the ESTVA Board Chief Sicunusa Dlamini said he was still awaiting official correspondence from the ministry with regards to the CEO’s appointment.
“I am not aware of the approval. I have not heard anything as yet,” the chief said.

The first recruitment exercise was done early last year by Kobla Quashie Consultants and completed in May. However, the candidate who was never publicly revealed never got to the point of appointment.

In the second recruitment conducted by SAMKHO, ESTVA Corporate Affairs Manager Mncedisi Mayisela and Maziya were said to have scored high points but neither of them got the secondment of the ICT ministry.

It was stated in the ESTVA advert for this position that the appointment of the CEO would be subject to verifications, psychometric assessments and reference checks while correspondence would be limited to short-listed candidates.

Besides Maziya and Mayisela, Dube (now ICT PS) and Titus Mavimbela were initially part of the four short-listed candidates for the position. Dube had applied for the CEO position before his appointment as PS some weeks ago.

Since the departure of the former CEO, the Board had to appoint different officers on acting basis for five months each.

SAMKHO Consultants completed the task sometime in September last year, and the Board was reported to have made recommendations and submitted all the paperwork to the ministry for approval.

At the time, the Board chairman revealed that the person they recommended the second time was different from the previous one and hoped that the ministry would approve him/her.
Eswatini Television Authority is a Category A public enterprise under the ministry of ICT.

The Board chairman confirmed in a previous interview that conducting the recruitment for the third time would cost the station an extra E200 000, with the full costs rising to nearly E1 million.

This position has been held by a number of people in the past, the first being Dan Dlamini before Celani Ndzimandze took over the reins.
Sabelo Masuku also acted on this position but did not stay long as he was replaced by Vukani Maziya who passed away in 2010.

Subsequently, ‘Sgcokosiyancinca’ took charge of the station and after his suspension, Vusigama Khumalo acted on the position.
‘Sgcoko’ later bounced back to the position before his retirement and Kenneth Maziya was then elevated to the position, albeit on acting basis.

The substantive CEO could not be immediately reached for comment at the time of compiling this report last night.

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