Major businesses linked to fuel theft – Railway

Senior officials at the Eswatini Railways (ESR) have revealed that investigations into fuel theft uncovered a network of major commercial operators who were among the biggest buyers of stolen diesel, as the parastatal rolls out extensive reforms to eliminate the long-running syndicates.

The revelations were made before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) after the auditor general flagged some weaknesses in the entity’s fuel management system, which had exposed ESR to abuse and poor accountability.

The auditor general reported that the audit of fuel procurement and usage found that ESR did not have a formal fuel management system in place. The audit noted that fuel usage was being managed manually, a situation that undermined efficiency, accountability and financial oversight.

The report also pointed to the requirements of the ISO 50001 Energy Management Systems standard, which encourages organisations to implement systems for monitoring energy consumption to improve efficiency and control costs.

The audit further highlighted a sharp rise in fuel expenditure, with fuel imports and exports increasing from E11.99 million in 2022 to E36.64 million in 2023 before climbing further to E44.14 million in the year ended March 31, 2024. The auditor general noted that the E32.15 million increase over three years had made fuel ESR’s largest and fastest-growing operational expense.

Director of Operations and Technical Services Sandile Dlamini acknowledged that, at the time of the audit, the organisation relied entirely on manual record keeping.

“When the auditor general conducted the audit, everything was being done manually. Record books can disappear if they are not properly secured, but we have since introduced a fully digital fuel and fleet management system,” he said.

Dlamini said the analogue system previously in use had been replaced with technology capable of monitoring every litre of fuel received and dispensed in real time.

He said the new system included automatic fuel level sensors that record every fuel delivery and instantly report all dispensing activities.

“If a locomotive is fuelled while on route or there is an abnormal change in fuel levels, the system immediately reports that to the control room,” he said.

According to Dlamini, the locomotives are also equipped with GPS technology that continuously tracks their movement, fuel consumption and fuel levels, while CCTV cameras have been installed to strengthen monitoring and oversight.

He further admitted that weak internal controls had contributed to the problem.

“In the past there was no segregation of duties. One person could order the fuel, receive it and decant it. That was a serious control weakness identified by the auditor general. We now have different personnel responsible for fuel procurement, receiving and administration. It is no longer handled by a single individual,” he said.

Explaining the increase in fuel expenditure, Dlamini said ESR had introduced a seamless train service in 2023 and 2024, resulting in significantly higher operational activity.

PAC Chairperson Madala Mhlanga asked whether the installation of surveillance equipment had been prompted by diesel pilferage within the organisation. Dlamini confirmed that fuel theft had indeed occurred and said disciplinary as well as criminal processes were already underway.

“There was pilferage. Some employees have been suspended, while others are already at home as investigations continue,” he told the committee.

He said ESR was working closely with law enforcement agencies, including the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the office of the director of public prosecutions (DPP), adding that some assets linked to the crimes had already been forfeited to the State.

Dlamini disclosed that investigations had revealed that the stolen diesel ended up in the hands of commercial operators.

“Our findings showed that some of the major consumers of the stolen fuel were people operating fuel stations, heavy fleet owners, truck operators, kombi operators and bus operators,” he said.

He said ESR was implementing several measures to dismantle the syndicates, including deploying members of the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force (UEDF) to patrol railway lines and establishing community informer networks to report suspicious activities.

“We used to lose a lot of fuel from trucks, but we are putting systems in place to bring this to a complete stop,” Dlamini said.