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This statement was made by the Federation of Eswatini Business Community (FESBC) Head of Transformation Mavela Sigwane, when he was responding to Montigny Investments’ claims that the former is a terrorist group. Montigny Investments issued the statement with the aforementioned allegations on Thursday December 14, 2023.
“By definition, FESBC is the Federation of Eswatini Business Community. Our mandate is to advocate for a fair trading environment within the country and outside where indigenous business are trading,” Sigwane said.
He added that every country had its own federation of local business community and Eswatini’s case was not different. He said that in the country, there were two employer entities; Business Eswatini and FESBC.
Therefore, he said labelling of the organisation with any other name amounted to defamatory in its nature and that could not be tolerated. He added that the question of anti-competitiveness allegedly posed by Montigny Investments or anyone else still required a clear response; hence misdirection of efforts towards resolving the trade question would not assist anyone.
He said regarding claims that FESBC ‘in bed’ with the proscribed political entity – People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), the head of transformation said that was not true. He said this was because PUDEMO is a political party, while FESBC is an employers’ federation, hence their mandates were different.
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“Ignorance is a sickness, hence it can only be treated by one applying himself/herself in reading and research,” Sigwane said.
On another note, he said the overall impression on these allegations made against FESBC by Montigny Investments were defamatory and criminal in their nature. He said the silence of government in calling these companies to order was noted and would be recorded in the next International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conference, which had a potential of getting the country to special paragraph.
He added that mutual respect between FESBC and local businesses would promote domestic trade in the country. He said these were not political concerns, but socio-economic worries, which directly affect both the local employers’ federation and the employees’ federations across the country, hence it had to be addressed accordingly.
Moreover, he said their posture during the political unrest where issues of stickers and others, were explained and could not be brought up again by an entity, which allegedly has serious questions on fair trade to respond to.
He said Montigny Investments needed to focus just on giving a convincing response to those concerns and comply with the State institution called Eswatini Competition Commission. Otherwise, he said the process would have to be escalated to their markets, where there would be serious deprecations.
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Investigations by Eswatini News uncovered that Construction Associates have been given the E9 362 062.09 tenders to construct two level crossings at Chibidze and Nyamane, as well as spot regravelling of 10km on the Chibidze-Mkhandeni-Mkhonza Feeder Road.
It has further been established that Touch Hygen Construction won the E13 060 302.99 tender to construct Mzinsagu and Mkhokhoba low-level crossings. The project also includes the spot regravelling of 10km of the Mzinsangu-Ndvungunye-Mshololo Feeder Road.
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The other project, whose E14 015 281.05 tender was awarded to Comnitech Construction, is the construction of the KaMzizi low-level crossing and spot regravelling of 10km of the KaMzizi-Nzongomane Feeder Road.
Further, E8 885 318.85 tender has been awarded to SLS Construction for the building of the Makhalatsini low-level crossing, while Mgcabho Construction won a tender worth E32 505 927.00 for the construction of Ezikhotheni and Mlanjwaneni low level crossings. Another tender, worth E17 948 080.39 and awarded to Plumbcare Construction, will see the construction of low level crossing at Ndabazezwe and an A1 low-level crossing.
A low-water crossing (also known as an Irish bridge or Irish Crossing, causeway in Australia, low-level crossing or low-water bridge) is a low-elevation roadway traversing over a water body that stays dry above the water when the flow is low but is designed to get submerged under high-flow conditions such as floods.
On the other hand, largescale patching of gravel roads is referred to as spot regravelling and is considered to be a periodic activity.
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Noteworthy is that patching is considered not a suitable method for repairing corrugations (the act of shaping into parallel ridges and grooves).
The method is also used to
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