Mbabane: Amid reports that the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) headed by Matsanjeni North MP, Phila Buthelezi, found cars parts in the workers’ personal lockers at the CTA premises, the garage’s General Transport Manager, Washington Khumalo said the car parts were old and of no use, and it shouldn’t be a question where they were found.
He said old parts are abandoned all around the premises and nobody cared for them, since they were unusable, adding that it boggles the mind why a big deal could be made out of something that could no longer add any value. Government procedure dictates that regardless of replacement or being old, car parts remain government property and should be returned to the government storehouses, and government would decide on what to do with them. Oftentimes, the parts are either resold to the public or disposed in fire.
The revelation of the locked up car parts was made towards the end of the tour on October 22 after one of the officers suggested that the MP Phila Buthelezi-led committee should pay a visit to the staff toilets and lockers.
The PAC with the Auditor General (AG), Timothy Matsebula, the CTA GTM, the Under Secretary (US) in the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, Naniki Mnisi and other high ranking government officers had also been part of the tour of the government garage in October.
Reports showed that the parts included car lights, wiper motors and other small components.
The lockers are commonly used by the workers to keep their clothes, food items and other personal things. The car parts had been removed from some of the government vehicles which were at the government garage to be fixed.
Responding to whether or not he was aware that there were parts kept in the worker’s personal lockers the GTM said he was not aware. The GTM also admitted that for as long as five months, a majority of the mechanics at the CTA had not been working with the reason being that there were no spare parts which could be fitted in the vehicles, particularly because the garage owed many of its suppliers.
Embroiled
The CTA General Transport Manager Washington Khumalo has of late been embroiled in trouble with the PAC. In September, Khumalo failed to appear before the committee but only reappeared after several weeks. This was after the PAC engaged the services of the police to locate him. His actions risked contempt of parliament. Resulting from the absence of the CTA boss the PAC was forced to postpone sessions related to the operations of the government’s garage. Neither did the Controlling Officer, also Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, Khangeziwe Mabuza, know of Khumalo’s whereabouts. Mabuza told the PAC that they had also summoned the CTA boss to the ministry to answer for irregularities prevalent at the CTA but were unsuccessful.
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