Lobamba – Lawmakers are demanding answers from the Central Transport Administration after it emerged that a Toyota Quantum belonging to the Ministry of Public Service was auctioned for E20 000 even though it had reportedly suffered nothing more than a broken mirror when it was first brought in.
The issue surfaced during a session of the Public Accounts Committee held at Lobamba, where Auditor General Timothy Matsebula presented findings from an ongoing investigation into the case. Matsebula told the committee that the matter came to light while probing why government had failed to recover repair costs from the officer responsible for the accident, as required under public service regulations.
According to the Auditor General, the officer involved was never surcharged, which raised questions about the process followed after the incident.
Acting Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service, Cebile Nhlabatsi, informed MPs that the officer had taken the vehicle without permission over a weekend and was later involved in an accident. She said a police report confirmed that only the mirror had been damaged at the time.
Nhlabatsi explained that the Ministry later sought a quotation from CTA for repairs, but the document included several additional damages that neither the officer nor the Ministry recognised. Before the dispute could be resolved, CTA notified the Ministry that the vehicle had been vandalised and stripped while parked within its premises. It was then auctioned off as scrap.
She added that the officer had been reported to the Civil Service Commission in 2021 for unauthorised use of a government vehicle, but the case stalled because officials were uncertain about the true repair costs.
Members of the PAC questioned how a Quantum could fetch only E20 000 at auction and raised concerns about how it could have been vandalised inside a government facility that should offer security for state assets. The committee ordered that the CTA General Transport Manager be called in to give clarity on both the sale and the reported vandalism.
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