By Sibusiso Dlamini | 2025-03-17

PRIME Minister Russell Dlamini has warned that the health sector faces a serious threat of being captured.
He has alleged that the ongoing drugs shortage crisis is not a result of mere mismanagement, but rather a deliberate, orchestrated effort by some forces.

Speaking in a wide ranging interview at Hospital Hill on Friday, the head of government acknowledged that while Cabinet tasked the minister of health with addressing the persistent drugs shortage and improvements have been noted, the crisis remains far from resolved.

He, however, described the situation as more complex than the public perceives, making it known that there were people working hard to ensure that the current situation persists as part of a hidden agenda to capture the sector.
“We risk, if we move even at the pace we are moving at, having the health sector captured. There are signs that the health sector got into this problem not by mistake but deliberately. It was orchestrated by certain forces,” he said.

The premier further criticised the forensic audit report into the drugs shortage, describing it as ‘not very helpful’ and accusing it of being highly politicised, therefore, making it harder for the ministry of health to navigate solutions.
“The issue of drugs shortage has been politicised, and I think one part of the major issues here has been the audit report, which is not very helpful in resolving the crisis. So much can be said, but it’s really not been helpful,” the PM stated.

The forensic audit the head of government referenced was commissioned by the auditor general’s office nearly two years ago to uncover the root causes of the acute drugs shortage plaguing public health facilities.
Conducted by Funduzi Forensic Services, the report came at a hefty price tag of E4 million to taxpayers, but two years later, the full findings are still withheld from the public and only an abridged version was presented by the Finance Minister Neal Rijkenberg during last year’s budget speech.

The audit’s credibility has been marred by controversy from the start after one of the lead investigators Charles Kwezera was dismissed following extortion allegations by two of the ministry of health officials, who claimed he solicited payment in exchange from a report clearing them of any wrongdoing.
Kwezera is currently out on bail, after he was arrested in Mpumalanga for a similar crime last year.

Legal disputes surrounding the appointment of the firm hired to conduct the audit — have played out in both the Industrial Court and High Court, with allegations of irregular procurement processes and conflicts of interest which cast doubt on the report’s impartiality being raised.
One of the most contentious revelations involves Delisa Malinga, the sole director of Clariscent Consulting Services, a company that also vied for the audit tender.

It was later discovered that Malinga, who at the time was also an employee of Standard Bank Eswatini, received an unlawful E2.8 million payment from Funduzi as their banker.
Further scrutiny revealed that both Funduzi and Claricent had provided an identical postal address, which records from the Eswatini Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (EPTC) link to Malangeni Primary School.

Adding to the irregularities, neither company submitted its directors’ fingerprints as part of standard vetting processes.
Instead, they provided a notice from the Royal Eswatini Police Service citing unexpected delays in obtaining police clearance certificates - a claim the police have denied.

Beyond the procurement scandals, the content of the audit report itself has also drawn heavy criticism. Although the full version remains unseen by the public, one key finding in the abridged version tabled in Parliament has already been fiercely contested. The report alleges that the World Health Organisation (WHO) donated E9 million worth of the antiviral drug Remdesivir to government but claims a ministry of health official collaborated with a supplier to process an illicit payment for the donated consignment.

This allegation has been publicly disputed by the WHO, which issued a press statement making it clear that it never donated the medication as per the report’s claims.
Against this backdrop, the PM urged journalists to remain vigilant and critical to ensure that the report’s conclusions do not serve hidden agendas rather than providing an honest account of the crisis.

“I think you, as the media, need to always be critical,” Dlamini stated, underscoring the importance of rigorous scrutiny. Last month, the World Bank told the nation that the ministry of finance was also to blame for the crisis as bureaucratic red tape and delayed payments from the ministry have worsened the situation.
Delivering an assessment of inefficiencies within the country’s healthcare financing, the Bretton Woods institution’s Human Development Specialist, Tengetile Tsabedze made it known that the ministry of health’s procurement process requires approval from 11 different offices before essential medicines can be secured, a bureaucratic quagmire she said severely delays access to life-saving drugs.

“This process is simply too long, especially in emergency situations,” Tsabedze stated.
She also disclosed that the review found that despite the ministry of health submitting quantified budget requests—typically around E540 million for drug procurement—allocations consistently fall short. She said the ministry receives 15 per cent less than its projected needs on average, therefore, contributing to the recurring medicine shortages as it results in a reliance on emergency procurements, which are not only costly, but also fraught with delays due to the rigid approval process.

Another issue Tsabedze highlighted in the World Bank’s report was poor contract management and delayed payments by the ministry of finance.
Tsabedze pointed out that suppliers frequently experience extensive delays in receiving payments, leading to further inefficiencies in drug procurement. “A lot of the issues stem from how invoices are paid. If there is a long waiting period for all submissions, this causes significant disruptions in drug supply,” she explained.

 

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