Times of Eswatini

No budget for Bulembu-Magoga Road

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and that no one wanted to live in a country where government structures were continuous­ly destroyed, homes were burnt ad people’s lives were lost,” said the minister.

Understaff­ed

He urged emaSwati to support the police and understand their critical role in enforcing law and order. He said it was discovered that the police were under-resourced. Noteworthy, it became a norm for police officers to complain of a lack of vehicles to respond to incidences. Though this could not be confirmed by the Chief Police Informatio­n and Communicat­ions Officer Superinten­dent Phindile Vilakati, some of the security services members complained about being understaff­ed.

Yesterday, William Tsitsibala Dlamini, the National Commission­er of Police, was called for comment on the E100 million increase in the budget. However, at the time he was called, Dlamini said he had not yet seen the budget. “Angikayibo­ni mine i-budget baba wami,” said Dlamini meaning that he had not yet seen the budget. He said it would have been better for him to comment after seeing it.

Noteworthy, in June 2021, the

MP Nokunceda Bujela dazzled in a embellishe­d coat with a blue dress. She finished her look with a nude fascinator which matched her shoes and bag. political unrest left property valued at millions of Emalangeni damaged. The destructio­n of the property took place around the country. This left business operators concerned that the police were not equipped enough to protect property, despite that this was one of the core mandates of the police service. The political instabilit­y continued as unknown people began to target members of the security forces. Many of them were shot, especially police officers, while on duty.

In one of the incidences, police officers were called and duped into believing that there was an emergency and then shot at as they responded. This resulted in police officers being reluctant to respond to criminal activities for fear of their lives.

The failure of the police to respond to crimes resulted in members of the public resorting to taking the law into their own hands. Mob justice has become the order of the day as people caught stealing or are accused of any crimes are often assaulted, sometimes fatally. The latest such incident happened last Thursday in Maphungwan­e, where five people were assaulted, resulting in one of them being killed.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Thuli Dladla wore a Kaftan inspired red and white dress with rose details. She accesorise­d her look with a yellow flower head piece.

Clerk to Parliament Bennedict Xaba went for a bluesuit which matched his polka dot tie and handkerchi­ef.

MBABANE – Hope of the Bulembu-Magoga Road being upgraded have once again been shattered. The road is currently gravel and connects Bulembu, Pigg’s Peak, Ndzingeni and Madlangamp­isi. It is also the route preferred to Barberton in South Africa as it is shorter than heading through Ngwenya or Matsamo. However, it is rocky and even public transport operators have been shunning the road.

Though Eswatini has a good network of roads, most of these are gravel and currently in a poor state. The government had previously prioritise­d the upgrading and rehabilita­ting of many of these roads but each year, due to various reasons, including rainfall, the roads get damaged. For the past five years, residents in the community of Bulembu have been complainin­g about the difficulty in leaving the area due to the poor state of the Bulembu-Magoga.

They had complained that public transport operators had shunned the road because their vehicles became damaged when they used the road. This has also been the same concern of people living around Ndzingeni through which the road passes. Already, a feasibilit­y study was done on the upgrade of the road. People who have houses constructe­d along the route were compensate­d.

About E28 million has so far been spent to compensate the people in readiness for the upgrade of the road. This was the sum spent as of March 31, 2019. It was estimated that E60 million would be spent for this. About E947 985 000 was budgeted for the upgrading of the road. This figure is almost twice what the government has budgeted for in rehabilita­ting and upgrading some of the roads in the country.

The Minister of Finance, Neal Rijkenberg yesterday during a press briefing revealed that about E0.5 billion had been budgeted for the rehabilita­tion of roads in the country. Rijkenberg was asked if the upgrading of the Bulembu-Magoga Road had been included in the 2023-2024 budget.

Projects

His response was that this would not be the case. He said this was because government was still working on other capital projects that were yet to be completed. Among the projects, the minister mentioned that the Nhlangano-Sicunusa Road was still under constructi­on and that funds for continuati­on of that were included in this year’s budget.

The minister said there was no provision for the Bulembu-Magoga Road because too many capital projects had been started. He said the basic principal was that it was not necessary to start other projects while the government was also struggling to finish the ones that had been started. “You will end up cutting your budget on all your major projects and you can’t keep them going,” said Rijkenberg.

He said unless there was a cheap loan somewhere to start the projects, it was not necessary while other projects were still not complete. “Unless it is really critical,” said the minister.

Meanwhile, the minister said the Ministry of Public Works and Transport had gone through a tender process for single layer and double layer roads. He said because these were mainly a public-private partnershi­p (PPP), funding was not necessaril­y required from the government. However, he said an applicatio­n could be made for a supplement­ary budget through Parliament.

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 ?? ?? Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade Manqoba Khumalo showed up in a grey suit complement­ed by a classic pink tie.
Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade Manqoba Khumalo showed up in a grey suit complement­ed by a classic pink tie.
 ?? (Pic: Joseph Zulu) ?? A road that was fixed but now has potholes. E0.5 billion had been budgeted for the rehabilita­tion of roads in the country.
(Pic: Joseph Zulu) A road that was fixed but now has potholes. E0.5 billion had been budgeted for the rehabilita­tion of roads in the country.
 ?? ?? Gege Member of Parliament Musa Kunene also went for local traditiona­l regalia during the 2023 Budget Speech presentati­on.
Gege Member of Parliament Musa Kunene also went for local traditiona­l regalia during the 2023 Budget Speech presentati­on.
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