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MBABANE – About E13 million is currently owed by government towards students studying at the University of Botswana (UB).
This was confirmed by the Undersecretary in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Antony Masilela, after having visited the institution following the challenges raised by students and the institution.
Masilela, speaking on national radio the Eswatini Broadcasting and Information Services after their trip to Botswana, yesterday said previously, the university had revealed that it was owed over E 15 million by the Eswatini Government.
He explained that they were currently working on a report on their findings in the challenges they found upon their arrival at UB.
“We have tried to reduce the debt owed to the university, but the challenge is that there are those invoices we receive now and again. Also, we have seen that the money is a lot as shown in the sent invoices,” said Masilela. He said the debt would be paid soon to start the new financial year on a clean slate. Masilela said the main cause of the debt was lack of communication between the Government of Eswatini and the University of Botswana. He revealed that when information was sent, it was not received by the relevant authority, resulting in such a huge debt.
Communication
“We are saying let the lines of communication between these two countries be transparent to avoid such from happening in the future,” he said.
Furthermore, Masilela said there was also a challenge on the payments of funds regarding the invoices between the university and Eswatini Government. He said at times, they would send money to the university, making it hard for the institution to know whether the money was towards the debt or some other funds needed.
Brilliant Tsabedze, the President of University of Botswana International Students Association applauded the Ministry of Labour and Social Security for taking the matter seriously. He said because of that, they would no longer experience any disturbances like they used to in the previous academic years.
“We are happy to report that after government’s visit to the university of Botswana regarding challenges raised, they promised to clear the debt before March 31, 2023. This is good news to us as students studying from other countries,” said Tsabedze.
Tsabedze further said no student was supposed to go to UB unless that student had received a scholarship or has someone to pay for him or her. He said this in response to a question posed on what they were doing to ensure that students were not left stranded in foreign land.
Worth noting is that in September last year, about 150 students admitted to study at UB started lectures with the hope that they would get scholarships but unfortunately 25 students ended up being awarded.