Swazi Observer

FULL STORY

RECRUITMENT BOARD DISMANTLED, LIST CHANGED

By NOKUPHILA HAJI | 2024-04-16

The interest by the Anti-Corruption Commission into the Eswatini Fire and Emergency Rescue Services (EFERS) recruitment exercise has opened a pandora’s box.

Although the department has not officially confirmed knowledge of the interest by the ACC into the recruitment, employees have told this newspaper that everyone is now running scared at the department, and that the exercise had been a mess.

The department has been reportedly given seven days to submit files of the recruitment exercise to the ACC; this after it was served with a letter informing it of the decision.

The EFERS recruited about 100 officers who are currently undergoing training in Motshane, and whose recruitment has sparked controversy over bribery allegations and corruption.

Responsible

According to sources, the committee that was responsible for the recruitment exercise was dismantled after the release of the list of the qualifying 100 fire-fighter recruits. The dismantling of the board was revealed by an employee of the station who said it consisted of about 10 members and was dissolved towards the end of the recruitment exercise.

She, however, could not reveal the names of those who might have been responsible for dissolving the committee. The employee said this committee was the one that was overseeing the whole recruitment exercise since the beginning of the process last year.

Only one member is believed to be still involved in the process, while others are said to have been deployed to different stations after completing their roles in the recruitment exercise. A few have been said to be still overseeing the training process at Motshane, where the over 100 firefighter recruits are undergoing their training, which the station said would last for six months.

The dismantling of the board has deepened the controversy over the recruitment, with suspicions raised over the final list submitted.

The source at the department said the members of the committee were told that their job was done as they had compiled the list of those who had qualified, while the list is alleged to have then been changed.

“Some of them saw that there were changes made on the list and were now encouraging the unlucky recruits to fight the station by revealing the corruption that happened during the recruitment,” she said.

Meanwhile, this newspaper was reliably informed that the letter from the ACC was hand delivered at the department despite the chief fire officer claiming ignorance of the letter. The letter is said to have been delivered on Friday and was addressed to the CFO. The delivery of the letter is said to have kicked things into motion at the department, with officials running helter-skelter. “There was a buzz after the letter and it became hectic for the officials as they were seen moving in and out of the station,” said the source.

‘List not similar to original one’

Serious allegations have been made that the list that was sent to the ministry of housing and urban development was not the original one submitted by the fire recruitment committee.

This was revealed by a source close to the matter, who also highlighted that many names were changed from the initial list.

She said only 56 candidates were qualifying on the list submitted by the station and the rest did not qualify.

Candidates

“Only five candidates were engaged in the 5km race and the rest joined the process,” halfway through it,” she said. Assistant Division Officer Maurice Simelane, who was part of the recruitment committee and the overseer of the recruitment exercise, when reached on the issue on Sunday, said he was no longer addressing issues of recruitment.

He said the only person who could assist with answers pertaining to the matter was the CFO because their role in the process was completed.

“I no longer attend to questions about the recruitment. Contact the chief fire officer on any questions that are related to it,” he said.

ACC Director Jabu Phakathi, when asked about their investigation, said the ACC operates within the ambit of the law which prohibits the disclosure of information or details of any person who is subject of an enquiry or investigation by the ACC (Section 18 of the Prevention of Corruption Act of 2006).

“Therefore we cannot answer your questions related to your enquiry,” she said. The alleged investigation by the ACC also comes about a month after Mbabane East MP Welcome Dlamini asked the ministry of housing and urban development to publicise the list of the recruits who were employed by the station for transparency.

This was during the ministry’s annual report and budget speech.

Asked

ENFERS CFO Luke Lushaba when asked about the issues on Sunday told this publication that he would return the call.

When other attempts were made after that, the CFO did not pick up his phone the whole day. The last attempt was made yesterday and his phone was reported to be busy. ENFERS Public Relations Officer Mandla Dlamini said he does not have information regarding the issue as yet. He said the station was still going to search and find more information on the issue as they have not yet received any communication on the allegations.

“We are still going to gather more information from the necessary sources,” he said.

share story