Times Of Swaziland: EPTC’S CONTRACT FOR ELDERLY GRANTS EXTENDED?

EPTC’S CONTRACT FOR ELDERLY GRANTS EXTENDED?
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BY NTOMBI MHLONGO on 15/04/2019 08:59:00


MBABANE - Has government extended the contract of Eswatini Posts and
Telecommunications Corporation (EPTC) for the distribution of elderly grants?
This is the question that begs an answer following that the parastatal’s
contract is expected to end this month. Information gathered was that the Deputy
Prime Minister’s Office, which is responsible for the distribution of the
grants, has considered extending the contract while going about its exercise of
verifying qualifying recipients. According to an impeccable source, the DPM’s
Office has allegedly given the parastatal up until November to continue
distributing the grants. “The contract has been extended for six months as the
DPM’s office is hoping to explore other options,” said the source.
The DPM is on record stating that his office was working to review the
distribution of elderly grants in the country. It should be noted that Minister
of Finance Neal Rijkenberg stated during his budget speech on February 27 that
government would undertake an exercise to verify qualifying recipients and
reducing the cost of distributing the grants. He said this would result in
increased grants for each qualifying recipient.
Protection
As it stands, government has allocated an amount of E702 million for the Deputy
Prime Minister’s Office in order to continue with the social protection
improvements for emaSwati. The finance minister highlighted that the exercise
would assist to address growing inequalities between the rich and the poor. He
said as of April 1, 2019, over 70 000 elderly people were to be catered for with
a total allocation of E417 million. Called for comment, DPM Themba Masuku
confirmed that the contract of EPTC was coming to an end this month. However, he
said he was not aware that his office had considered extending the contract of
the parastatal. “I have heard that the contract is coming to an end but I have
not yet said that it has been extended. “For now I am looking at a better way
to distribute the grants,” Masuku said.
In vernacular, Masuku said, “Ngisengakakusho loko. Mine nje ngisafuna indlela
lencono yekutfumela imali”. As he spoke, Principal Secretary in the DPM’s
office, Khangeziwe Mabuza, was standing next to him and he asked her to shed
light on the matter.
At first, Mabuza was not welcoming as she advised the reporter to write what she
wanted. “It is fine, she can go ahead and write what she wants. We have
actually written to them informing them that we are terminating the contract,”
she said without giving further details. Efforts to get a comment from EPTC
Corporate Communications Manager Nqobile Magagula were not successful as her
cellphone rang unanswered when she was contacted on Friday. EPTC, through its
SwaziPost division, began the distribution of the grants as a pilot project way
back in October 2015. On the first payout, which was on October 6, it became
obvious that the pilot project was a success as a majority of the elderly gave
it a thumbs up, saying it was easy and fast.
At the time, the grant stood at E240 and many of the elderly were complaining
that it was too little.