Times Of Swaziland: KIRSH FOUNDATION’S E45M CASH DISTRIBUTION NEXT WEEK

KIRSH FOUNDATION’S E45M CASH DISTRIBUTION NEXT WEEK
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BY MELISA MSWELI on 19/05/2020 01:41:00


MBABANE - The E45 million that was donated by the Kirsh Foundation for the less
privileged to purchase food items will be distributed from next Monday.
The money will be distributed via mobile fund transfer to cellphones to over 64
000 homesteads and will benefit around 320 000 emaSwati,
The dates were confirmed by National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) Russell Dlamini, in an interview with this publication
yesterday.
Dlamini was being questioned on how far the agency had gone with the
arrangements of the distribution of the funds ever since the announcement of the
donation.
He said currently, they had the Cash Based Transfer (CBT) which was what they
were going to start with as of next Monday. Dlamini confirmed that they had
engaged both mobile network providers for the money transfer. Even though he did
not mention them by name, it’s common cause that MTN Eswatini and Eswatini
Mobile are the two mobile phone companies currently operating in the country.
Dlamini, however, could not be drawn to comment further on the issue cash but
simply emphasised that the money would be distributed from next Monday.
Distributed
He clarified that the money being distributed was donated by businessman Natie
Kirsh, adding that it was different from the food parcels that would be
distributed by NDMA.
In an earlier interview with this publication, Dlamini had said they were at a
stage where they were  double-checking the lists they had if everyone in it
qualified for the relief.
When asked how they were planning to distribute the relief in families with many
members, he said the distribution was household based.
“Each household will receive E700,” he said.
Dlamini said there could be a lot of members in one family but they also got to
be divided by households (emadladla).
“You can be 20 in one homestead, but it is impossible that all of them can be
eating from one household,” he said.
It is worth noting that the Kirsh Foundation also donated 20 000 blankets
through Business Eswatini to be distributed to the most needy as winter sets in.
It further contributed 200 000 cotton masks to be distributed to the public.
The country is also awaiting the delivery of advanced rapid result test kits
which were contributed by the same foundation.
They are 150 000 in total, but will come in tranches of 25 000 due to technical
delays from the manufacturer’s side.