... UNESWA’s history of financial mess

MBABANE – Is UNESWA still under financial crisis?

In a public statement last year, UNESWA Registrar Dr Salebona Simelane, said the institution had no money. According to Africa-Press, UNESWA Financial Director (Bursar) Mfanuzile Dlamini revealed that the institution was insolvent and struggling to stay open. The bursar further said the institution had a total debt of over E1 billion and depended on the relationship it had with its suppliers to stay operational.

Africa Press further quoted UNESWAVice Chancellor Professor Justice Thwala indicating that the institution was in desperate need of a bailout from government to write off some of its debts, which included over E700 million owed to the Eswatini Revenue Service (ERS).

The poor financial state of the institution was exposed when the Ministry of Education and Training appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in Parliament. Thwala revealed that government’s failure to honour its debts made the situation worse for the institution, which was currently owed E81 million in tuition fees for the previous financial year, by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

Crisis

The varsity’s financial crisis led to the delay in the payment of the institution’s employees monthly salaries. The university staff eventually engaged in strikes to express their grievances. In a memo issued in October 2022, the registrar indicated that the delay was due to insufficient funds. Because of the financial crisis, it stated that in 2020 government, through the Ministry of Finance and that of Education, had been asked to come to the rescue of the university, which was in a financial quagmire. The debt to ERS was in respect of the Pay-as-You-Earn (PAYE), which the university failed to remit over the years. By the end of the 2018/2019 financial year, it had ballooned to over

E400 million and had further doubled, in the following years, to E720 million. It was mentioned that in May 2022, government said it would write off E3 billion in tax penalties and interests owed by businesses and parastatals in the country. This publication revealed that UNESWA was one of the parastatals scheduled to have its tax penalties and interest written off.

The Minister of Finance, Neal Rijkenberg, said this followed the announcement by the ERS of the Tax Debt Relief Programme. Rijkenberg said there were a number of parastatals that would benefit from the initiative. He said they needed to approach the ERS and make a commitment to pay their outstanding taxes. Busangani Mkhaliphi, the Director of the Public Enterprise Unit (PEU), highlighted in her December 31, 2018 report that UNESWA’s current liabilities exceeded its current assets, which led to the institution’s inability to remit PAYE.