Angella Johnson
THE woman entrusted with heading a government agency to advise small businesses is wanted by Swaziland police for allegedly misappropriating R211 000 of foreign donated funds intended to build township houses, it was claimed this week.
Nonhlahla June Mkhwanazi, who has only held the post of chief executive officer of Ntsika Enterprise Promotion Agency for two weeks, is accused of having stolen the money sometime around 1990. She then flew to the United States to study at Cornell University in New York.
According to a senior police officer in Swaziland, she was working in the section of the Department of Natural Resources responsible for township development, when the money went missing.
He said Mkhwanazi allegedly conned her bosses into believing the money was needed to build roofs on 88 fictitious units in a township outside the capital city of Embabane. They gave her a cheque, which was subsequently deposited into her account and the money withdrawn.
“That’s the last we saw of her, but there’s an open docket and she is still very much wanted for questioning about the fraud, so we would be very glad to know exactly where to find her,” said the officer.
Mkhwanazi, who was married to prominent Swazi footballer “Styles” Richards, has vigorously denied the charges. When contacted by the Mail & Guardian she described the incident as “a misunderstanding” and said she thought the matter had already been cleared up.
“Some money earmarked for consultants did get put into an account and no one could trace it. I was the project manager and was asked to give a statement, but no charges were made to me.
“They have got the story all wrong and in any case I think I’m being victimised for having divorced my Swazi husband. They don’t take kindly to that sort of thing there,” she added.
Ntsika Enterprise Promotion Agency was set up a year ago by the Department of Trade and Industry to provide technical and infrastructure support for small, medium and micro-enterprises and to complement the department’s financial agency, Khula. It has a budget of R36-million.