POLITICS FAILING LOCAL BUSINESS COMMUNITY

MBABANE – “It is time we consider stopping paying tax as businesses until a political response is made to the political question affecting our businesses.”

This was said by Mavela Sigwane Head of Business Transformation at the Federation of Eswatini Business Community (FESBC). the continuation of the on-going political unrest in the country affected them immensely. Sigwane said continuous stop and start breaks due to political unrest had already affected businesses a great deal, with politicians continuing to enjoy monthly salaries and seating allowance from the taxpayers.

careful

He said due to the fact that Eswatini was on a democratic revolution and in a time when it was due for elections next year, he said that meant government spending was going to be reduced drastically as everyone would be careful on what he or she commits government to before exit of office. He said it was because of that reason that government suppliers might not be paid until 2024, which was reality hitting the members face. Another challenge highlighted by Sigwane was the one regarding an increase in interest rate of 6.6 per cent, where he said it was affecting some of the businesses that were already sinking in debts. He said the interest rate announced by the governor meant that their debts would increase as per the interest rate.
He, however, expressed his disappointment on how politicians were failing to respond correctly on the issue, which was unfair to them. “Failure of politicians to address the issue of 6.6 per cent interest rate is very much unfair to us as businesspeople. We always pay taxes and ‘bona bayawubanga lomtselo wetfu’.”

proposal

He further stated that they were against Eswatini Electricity Company (ECC) proposal of increasing electricity by 21 per cent since they had no proof as to where they would use that money. “We can’t allow EEC to increase electricity by 21 per cent. They have failed to account for the expenditure when they were asked where they will use that money,” he stated.
Furthermore, Sigwane stated that they could not tolerate the idea of increasing fuel while at the same time food prices hit sky rocket spikes. He said such increase had resulted to most businesses making a loss, which he all credited to the failure of politicians to answer the political question on the ground. He said those politicians were busy getting salaries from government coffers resulting to it drying up.

ensure

On the other hand, the head of business transformation at FESBC stated that they had recently signed a tax deal of 20 years, which needed careful implementation to ensure full benefits were enjoyed by businesses. He said they had decided to form a tripartite (which is Eswatini Revenue Services (ERS), FESBC and taxpayers (businesses) when dealing with business. He said to show the cooperation, FESBC now had small offices within ERS offices. Sigwane also stated that they were willing to establish FESBC finance wing to assist businesses with quick short to medium loans. He said this should be able to cover loans from as little as E20 000 to E5 million as per their strategy. Sigwane said the money would come from partnering with international organisations which would help them form a cooperative instead of serving their money at the back. “Since we are being forced to declare our money at Central Bank, now it will be easy for us to save as business owners than going to the back,” he narrated.

concerning

Business Eswatini Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nathi Dlamini highlighted that BE had been receiving concerning reports from various sectors across the country due to the disturbance caused by the political turmoil. He said the manufacturing sector in particular had recorded the lowest number of attendance on Tuesday but the picture had completely changed by lunch time when they reported almost an 80 per cent attendance. “A sensible analysis of this would mean that most workers were late for work as they had to walk the distance. “It is patently clear to us that public transport was an issue, and any mitigation attempts, if any, must have failed dismally. Our workers had to endure long walks in order to get to work and employer’s would like to thank them for their commitment,” he added. The CEO also mentioned that they had persistently decried these sporadic disruptions as being unhelpful to the creation of job opportunities, which were desperately needed especially by the young people. He said the prevailing situation was unhelpful to job creation and national development, which was why BE asked all concerned to avail themselves of the negotiation table. “The current situation is economically untenable.” He concluded.

inactivity

The country has lost at least over E800 million due to inactivity in commerce from the four days of protests that occurred at different intervals. This was revealed by renowned Economist and University of Eswatini (UNESWA) Lecturer Sanele Sibiya, who stated that quantifying the effects of the ‘impromptu holidays’ was arduous at best and required one to have a huge data set and big data models. Sibiya narrated that, however, a simple route was to make a naïve assumption that the annual gross domestic product (GDP) of the country is produced in equal proportions per day or per working day. He stated that according to recent data from the World Bank, Eswatini had an annual GDP of US$4.94 billion Emalangeni as at 2021 or E74.1billion. Assuming 365 day production year, we have a daily output of E203 million with a total cost of E812 million over the four days of protests.

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