Govt spends E2.3m renting unoccupied offices
MBABANE – The Judiciary has paid over E2 million taxpayers’ funds in rentals for unoccupied offices for the Siteki Magistrates Court.
Auditor General (AG), Timothy Matsebula has warned about fruitless and wasteful expenditure on the unutilised property.
He said the public funds could have been used on other programmes. The AG further requested the Judiciary to recover the funds.
Meanwhile, the AG also reported that the Nhlangano Magistrates Court is currently housed in a condemned building, thus putting the officials at risk.
This is detailed in the Financial Audit Report on the Consolidated Government Accounts of the Kingdom of Eswatini for the financial year ended March 31, 2023.
The report was tabled by the Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg during the delivery of the budget speech on Monday.
The AG has raised queries which are yet to be verified when he appears before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
The AG reported to the controlling officer that a total amount of E2 393 913.60 was paid to Phinduvuke Investments for annual rental of offices for the Magistrate Court and the Master of the High Court Offices in Siteki for the year ended March31, 2023.
He discovered that only the Master of the High Court was occupying the leased property.
PAYMENT
Matsebula said the payment was processed through Payment Voucher 050222, dated September 7, 2022, after an agreement signed on September 1, 2022 and shall be in force for five (5) years, until August 31, 2027.
Physical inspection of the office site was conducted on December 9, 2023, and it revealed that the Magistrates Court offices had not yet relocated to the newly-leased premises, yet the rental paid was for both offices. The offices are not yet ready to be occupied by the Magistrates Court; hence there was no value for money in the rental paid for them.
The AG pointed out that according to principles on value for money; cost consciousness was one critical aspect of the value for money equation. It requires consideration of the priority of the task, alternative ways of achieving desired goods and services, and the costs and benefits of different approaches, read part of the report.
The AG further stated that value for money also required that organisational systems be proportional to the capacity and need to manage results and/or deliver better outcomes and be calibrated to maximise efficiency.
The controlling officer was advised to recover the rental paid for offices not occupied and ensure that rental is only paid once the offices are occupied.
In her response, the controlling officer cited that the relocation of the Siteki Magistrate’s Court, as well as the Master of the High Court was necessitated by the declaration of the Lubombo Regional Administration building (the building that housed the respective offices) being declared inhabitable.
This presented an urgent need for the Judiciary to relocate and the only available building at the time was Phinduvuke Complex, which is a building that was designed and intended for purposes of a shopping complex. It followed therefore that the building needed to be partitioned, she said.
LEASE THE PREMISES
She added that government accordingly approached the tenant and undertook to lease the premises and further partition same. This then called for a lease agreement to be signed before any partitioning works could be done. The area to be occupied by the Master of the High Court needed minima one partitioning, hence the immediate occupation.
“Phase one of the partitioning was completed in March 2023 and owing to the end of financial year, there were budget constraints which consequently meant a delay in obtaining the authority to commit funds. The request to proceed to Phase 2 was made in June 2023. Phase 2 was for the procurement of immovable furniture for the six courtrooms. Thus exercise is 60 per cent done, but unfortunately the contractor insists on periodic payments as per the certificates from the Ministry of Public Works and Transport. Unfortunately, we still face cash flow issues,” she said.
She stated that it was for the above reasons that the office of the controlling officer anticipates that funds would be made available to see the projects to completion. The controlling officer said rentals were paid upfront because the landlord could not allow any alterations to be done to their building without paying rentals; which gives government the right to enter and alter and or partition the premises.
The AG reported that the response of the controlling officer was noted. However, the response does not state the reason why the rental was paid for offices that have not yet been occupied. The matter remains reportable.
PAID IN FULL
Matsebula further reported to the controlling officer that a payment amounting to E3 948 608.86 for the partitioning of the Magistrates Court and the Office of the Master of the High Court was paid in full to the contractor, Phinduvuke Investments, before the service was fully rendered.
According to Payment Voucher number 020305, dated 31 April 2023, payment to the contractor was done in full yet the service of partitioning had not been completed.
Physical verification of work done on site was conducted twice, on the December 9, 2023 and on the December 20, 2023. On both dates, the foreman and the landlord were not on site to give an update on the progress of the project.
Further noted, was that the project contract did not state the commencement date and anticipated completion date of the project. The project contract was signed by the Lessor - Phinduvuke Investments and Lessee – the controlling officer of the Judiciary on January 23, 2023, without the involvement of the attorney general.
“The cause for delays in completion of services, which have been fully paid for; could not be established since there were no variations from the architect or clerk of works, that was submitted which could have delayed completion of the project,” he said.
The AG drew the attention of the controlling officer to Section 77 (7) of the Constitution of Eswatini, which reads: “Subject to the other provisions of this Constitution, an agreement, contract, treaty, convention or document by whatever name called, to which government is a party or in respect of which the government has an interest, shall not be concluded without the advice of the attorney general (in person or by subordinate officers acting in accordance with the general or special instruction of the attorney general), except in such cases and subject to such conditions as Parliament may prescribe.”
Matsebula warned the controlling officer that the service may end up not being rendered because payment had already been made, leading to loss of public funds. Further, this may lead to the accumulation of pending and backlog of cases due to the shortage of courtrooms and staff offices.
He also advised the controlling officer to ensure that the contractor completes the partitioning by March 31, 2024. Further, the controlling officer was advised to seek the advice from the Attorney General before signing any agreement that involves government to avoid payment for services not rendered.
In her response, the controlling officer noted the AGs observation. She cited that the relocation of the Siteki Magistrates Court a s well as the Master of the High Court was necessitated by the declaration of the Lubombo Regional Administration building (the building that housed the respective offices) being declared inhabitable.
The controlling officer said this presented an urgent need for the Judiciary to relocate and the only available building at the time was Phinduvuke Complex, which building was designed and intended for purposes of a shopping complex. It followed, therefore, that the building needed to be partitioned.
“The office of the controlling officer anticipates that funds will be made available to see the projects to completion. Rentals were paid upfront because the landlord could not allow any alterations to be done to their building without paying rentals; which gives government the right to enter and alter and or partition the premises,” read part of the report.
The response of the controlling officer was noted by the AG. However, there was no explanation on why the contractor was paid in full before the service of partitioning was fully rendered. The office was in receipt of a report from the quantity surveyor who confirmed that Phase 1 of the partitioning was partially completed in March 2023, thus payment was done before completion of the partitioning. The response also did not explain why the attorney general was not consulted before the lease was signed. The AG insisted that the matter remained reportable.
Meanwhile, the AG also reported to the controlling officer that the building which houses the Nhlangano Magistrates Court was condemned by the senior public health and environmental officer of Nhlangano Town Board through a corresponding letter dated the
May 23, 2023, but it was still being used.
Matsebula said this posed a health hazard and serious danger to the officers as the walls were cracked and continued to crack. He said the roof was leaking, electric wires were open, blocked water system and the ceiling was falling.
The premises were condemned through a correspondence from Nhlangano Town Council to the Judiciary. The correspondence advised that the defects be fixed within 14 days failing which; the structure would be condemned and closed. However, the building was still in use by December 2023 when the audit inspection took place.
Part V, section 23(1) of the Eswatini Occupational Safety and Health Act of 2001, states that, “if, in the opinion of an inspector, the whole or part of the premises constituting a workplace is no longer suitable for use as a workplace, the inspector may: (a) by notice in writing to the occupier, setting forth in what respect the premises are in the inspector’s opinion no longer suitable for use as a workplace, and the necessary steps or work that may be carried out to correct or rectify the matter at the workplace, require the occupier to take the necessary steps to correct the situation and make the structural alterations mentioned within the period specified in such notice.”
LOSS OF THE LIVES
“I am concerned that this may result to loss of government property and loss of the lives of officers, which may lead to litigations, should the building collapse during office hours,” said Matsebula.
The AG advised the controlling officer to request for an alternative office to carry out the duties of the Judiciary and request that the repairs of the building be done with immediate effect. Also, the Judiciary should cooperate with health and safety practice.
In response the controlling officer acknowledged the AGs observation. She stated that the Judiciary had taken all steps necessary in trying to address the above. “Past experience has taught us to avoid moving piecemeal as this creates problems as observed under recommendation one and two above,” she said.
She further reported that Microprojects Unit was engaged to evaluate and report on the rehabilitation of Magistrate Courts in Eswatini and the Nhlangano Magistrate Court formed part of the report.
Microprojects Unit reported that an amount of E6 456 215.62 was needed to rehabilitate the Nhlangano Magistrate Court. This amount has been budgeted for under the Judiciary’s capital projects for the 2024/2025 financial year and we await the budget allocation.
As an interim remedy, the Ministry of Public Works and Transport has issued out a tender for minor repairs particularly for the public toilets and the office has been informed that works should commence in about three weeks.
The AG noted the controlling officer’s response and said a follow up on this issue would be done in the next audit cycle.
I am concerned that this may result to loss of government property and loss of the lives of officers,” said Matsebula.