Dear Chief Mkhumbi, UNESWA ship has sunk to lowest
OMETIME in June 2022, His Majesty King Mswati III signed Legal Notice No.213 of 2022, an instrument which was to revoke the appointment of Prince David from the position of Chairperson of the Council of what was supposed to be the country’s pride in tertiary education, the University of Eswatini (UNESWA).
In his capacity as the Chancellor and in exercising powers vested in him under Section 14 of the University of Eswatini Act of 1983, His Majesty appointed Chief Mkhumbi Dlamini to take over the hot seat.
The change must have been welcomed by most staff members of the institution following that they had raised a variety of concerns about how Prince David was handling the affairs of the institution.
The staff used different platforms to relay their concerns and at some point they delivered a petition in Parliament, something that led to a probe.
While the probe might not have solved the issues as proven by events of the past few months, the replacement of Prince David with Chief Mkhumbi motivated the staff and all concerned emaSwati who believe in the saying that ‘a new broom sweeps cleaner’.
No one could blame them as this happened at a time when the documentation of the challenges faced by the institution which threatened its very existence had gained momentum.
PROBLEMS
However, it turns out that it was, perhaps, a case of a ‘same script, different cast’ as the problems had seemingly become worse.
This week, as has been the case in previous months, we woke up to the news that the UNESWA staff had raised concerns over the upcoming students’ examination, as they had not received their salaries for the month.
The biggest concern is that this happened at a time when the staff is expected to invigilate the exams, scheduled for Monday.
Once the pride of the nation and regarded as one of the best in the SADC region, it is disheartening and hard to accept that the financial challenges of the institution are seemingly far from over.
If there is one field where the management of the institution has been consistent in doing, it is the delay in the payment of salaries.
I am sure that the Office of the Registrar, Dr Salebona Simelane, no longer needs to craft a fresh memorandum to notify the staff members, it has been the same script for months.
All that Simelane does now is edit the date and circulate one and the same piece of paper.
The question is, when will this ever end? The staff is justified in being frustrated, because they have responsibilities just like all adults.
As employees, they need to be highly motivated in their quest to help equip the country’s future leaders with the necessary skills.
This time around, the controversy surrounding the salaries emerges at a time when the students are expected to write their examination.
Obviously, the stress that the staff is going through has a huge impact on the students, because the latter needs to now and again consult in preparation for the exams.
The delay has meant that the lecturers had no means of travelling to work and this left the students confused about whether they should continue preparing for the upcoming examination or not.
For an institution that receives a subvention from government and donations from various individuals and associations regionally and abroad, one would have expected that the issue of delayed salaries will not be constantly coming up to derail continuity at UNESWA.
However, the reality is that it is continuing and this occurs despite that there have been some strategies put in place to try and rescue the institution.
Perhaps there is something that we are not being told here. What exactly is the problem?
FINANCIAL
Why are the financial challenges persisting when besides the subvention and donations, the institution has other great ideas of income generating programmes and activities?
Perhaps, the University Council, an entity established by the University Act of 1983 and currently headed by Chief Mkhumbi can help provide answers.
In terms of the Act, the University Council consists of 23 members who include the chairperson.
The core business of the council is the governance of the university.
It also ensures compliance with the Act and any other legislative framework of the university in its operations.
The council also has a big responsibility of sourcing finances for the operations of the university and further liaises with the government for purposes of subvention allocation.
Since it has become apparent that the financial challenges are far from over, perhaps we need an audience with Chief Mkhumbi to tell us what strategies the council has adopted to assist the institution.
The audience is needed just so we can understand if the chief and the rest of the council understand that UNESWA is on the verge of collapse.
I believe the chief is not oblivious to the fact that government has no funds to fully meet the financial expectations of the institution.
It is on this basis that he can possibly share with the nation what he and his team have done to ensure that the institution introduces the right income generating initiatives to fund itself.
PERSIST
For years we have been made to believe that the institution does generate income from research initiatives, commercial use of its farm lands, commercial farming and other initiatives, but still, the financial challenges persist.
Dear chief, have you tried to probe why up until today the institution has not reached its full maturity, whereby it can be able to sustain itself through the various income generating funding initiatives?
What other options have you considered in the event that all the initiatives do not generate enough revenue?
Maybe, dear chief, the time has come to give in to the demand made by the staff members in one of their petitions, that a forensic audit should be instituted to look into the affairs of the institution.
Also, dear chief, there is an argument that the institution still offers certain courses which are no longer commensurate with the current market demands.
If it has not been done, an audit into the courses is a must. In the event that it has been done, the nation needs to know what actions have been taken to ensure that new courses capable of meeting the market trends are fully incorporated.
Should there be evidence that all strategies and ideas, including embarking on fundraising initiatives and partnering with private sector entities to enable the institution to be a self-sustaining entity have all been exhausted and failed, then the council must inform the nation and then make plans to engage government and His Majesty the King on a possible bailout loan.
Surely, something can be done Mr Chief as was witnessed in April last year after the workers had engaged in a strike action, forcing the closure of the university’s three campuses for over a month.
CHALLENGES
While details were scanty, it was publicly revealed that the chief had met the King and reported some of the challenges faced by the institution.
The meeting came at the right time when the financial year had ended on March 31, 2022 and revelations were that the university’s financial statements had shown that over the years it had an accumulated losses of about E1.228 billion (E1 227 865 348).
In that year alone, the university incurred a loss of over E119 million while in the previous year ended March 2021, it had incurred a loss of over E189 million.
What also came out was that the institution spent beyond its income such that total costs of E713 969 275 exceeded total revenue and operating income of E592 925 145 by E121 044 130 (20.4 per cent).
Such an analysis provided clearly that the institution was set to struggle to settle obligations, as and when they fall due for payment and that its wage bill was far higher than the annual budget it received.
All this supports the growing concern that the university is now as good as a ship that has sunk to its lowest.
With the chief bearing the name of a ship, he understands when it has sunk to its lowest.
Otherwise as one of its products, I am no longer proud to even brag to friends that I once dressed to the nines and wore that beautiful gown to be conferred with a degree by this institution.
What a shame!