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I’M NOT ON TLC’S BOARD - MINISTER NEAL

By Nokuphila Haji | 2025-03-31

MINISTER of Finance Neal Rijkenberg has addressed claims suggesting that he remains a shareholder or board member of The Luke Commission (TLC), providing clarification on his current role within the health facility.

This is contained in his responses tabled in the Senate on Monday and adopted on Tuesday. This was after Senator Prince Ngangabani asked the minister about the ownership of the facility during the ministry of finance’s annual performance debate for the 2024/2025 financial year and the 2025 /2026 budget debate last week.

“Who owns The Luke Commission? Why is the entity funded by government and is the minister of finance a board member at TLC?” asked the senator during the debate.

Senator Chief Mvimbi Matse had also raised the same questions during the ministry of health’s budget performance debate. He revealed that there were many things that the public was saying, including that the facility was gaining favours from government in terms of funding because the minister was allegedly a board member.

Matse asked for clarity on the issue. In his responses, Rijkenberg said he was not a shareholder or a board member of TLC. He said he was a board member in 2017, but resigned upon being appointed minister.

“In my opinion, the shareholders of TLC will be the Americans that are running the entity and it is locally registered as a non-governmental organisation (nGO). It is also registered as a non-profit making company,” he said.

Rijkenberg said the hospital should always carry out its mandate as a non-profit company since it was also exempted from tax.

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