Reconstruction Fund: 33 unnamed businesses benefit
“Thulisile Gamedze said some applications were disqualified for reasons including overstating the value of the damage.”
COMPENSATED: It could not be established why the companies were not being named as they were benefitting from a public fund. The 33 businesses were among 259 that applied for the fund.
MBABANE – Only 33 businesses, whose names are kept secret, have shared E668 820.50. It could not be established why the companies were not being named as they were benefitting from a public fund.
The 33 businesses were among 259 that applied for the fund after they were affected by the June/July 2021 political unrest.
Yesterday, Prime Minister (PM) Cleopas Dlamini revealed that the 259 applications were worth E417 million in total.
He said the 106 of the applications have been approved, 73 of which are still being processed.
“About 153 are yet to be reviewed and assessed by the committee and these amount to approximately E380 million.” Chairperson of the Management Committee of the Reconstruction Fund Thulisile Gamedze said the names of the beneficiaries could not be disclosed.
Gamedze said some applications were disqualified for reasons including overstating the value of the damage.
Business Eswatini (BE) CEO Nathi Dlamini said they were not aware of any of their members having applied for, or benefitted from the fund to date.
“It could be that they, if there are any who have indeed benefitted, could perhaps have gone straight to the fund without notifying us.”
Dlamini said they would be making enquiries regarding the matter because they had a huge interest in it, especially because their members were both victims and also funders of the fund.
Mavela Sigwane who is Head of Transformation at the Federation of Eswatini Business Community (FESBC), said they had about 70 members who applied for the fund.
He said they were not aware of those who had received the grant for now.
“We did assist them with the application process, but we are yet to find out how many were successful,” he said.
Shortfall
Sigwane pointed out that there was a shortfall with regards to information flow as they were not receiving updates in a satisfactory manner.
He said it was a pity that some businesses were disqualified due to overstated value of the damage.“However, the ideal situation would be to listen to the person who has suffered the loss in this case.”
He said they were thankful of government’s effort to assist people to get back to business.
His Majesty the King officially launched the Reconstruction Fund in September last year, with contributions amounting to approximately E1 billion.
He said: “We strongly believe that it will go a long way in rehabilitating the damaged structures which are very critical for the resuscitation of business.
“We take this opportunity to urge all prospective beneficiaries of the fund to come forward and to use this opportunity wisely.”
At inception, the fund received a E500 million start-up injection from government accompanied by a contribution worth E330 million from Taiwan as well as from a number of local businesses.
steRnly
In his end-of-year statement last month, the premier sternly warned people against destruction of property and violence.
“Government, and the nation as a whole, is greatly concerned about continued violence against innocent emaSwati and the destruction of property belonging to persons perceived to be holding opposed political views.” He referred to the imagination that in such acts of violence would solicit political support from the public as naïve.
“No nationals of any other
country will support the destruction of public infrastructure such as schools and electricity installations; no one will support the destruction of private homes.”
The prime minister said government condemned acts of vandalism and warned those behind such criminal acts about the full might of the law.