Bogus investor tricks Swazis into dud car deal

James Hall
MBABANE - Don't look for a Chevrolet truck and automotive assembly plant in Swaziland as previously announced by government, not after various government ministries were taken for a ride by American businessman Don Bardon, according to angry parliamentarians demanding an investigation.
Bardon allegedly promised Swaziland the Chevy plant if government would commit itself to purchasing an initial 50 Chevrolet-made vehicles, mostly small trucks, from him. The deal called for government to purchase 250 vehicles from Bardon every year. The Chevies would presumably be assembled at the Swaziland facility.
This year, government paid for an initial 25 Chevrolet trucks and bakkies, but then the deal fell through.
One third of the vehicles, which were delivered only two months ago, are now unrepairable and lying idle at the government garage in Mbabane.
There are no spare parts available to fix them.
"The other Chevies will soon be in the same fix. Government got snookered," a source at the ministry of transportation told FTW.
Led by MP Marwick Khumalo, parliamentarians are demanding of transport minister Titus Mlangeni why government spent R2,5 million on unrepairable cars.
"Why did no one in government do their homework, and discover that Chevrolets sold to the Namibian government by Bardon are off the roads in that country because there are no spare parts there either?"
Ministry sources defend their decision to purchase the cars as a "down payment" for a hoped-for automotive assembly plant because government's priority is to attract new foreign direct investment to Swaziland, bringing new jobs to a country where the unemployment rate stands at 45%.