NEW BOGOGO TO WAIT UNTIL 2018 FOR GRANTS

 LOBAMBA – As Cabinet meets this morning - it should seriously consider the dire state of the country’s economy.

The worst bombshell was dropped by the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM), Paul Dlamini, who after weeks of promising to deliver a statement on the issue of the payment of the new elderly grants, had nothing but bad news.

Dlamini said instead, the new elderly would start receiving their monthly E400 grants next financial year, which begins on April 1, 2018.
Next in line was the Minister of Health, Sibongile Simelane, who basically reported that government had also not paid its service providers with particular reference to the Phalala Fund.

To make matters worse, the minister was also not in a position to state how much government owed to these service providers and instead said they were still making investigations.
Meanwhile, in different parts of the country, farmers were still camped at the various Rural Development Areas (RDAs) waiting for farm inputs they had long paid for.

However, back in the House of Assembly yesterday, the DPM in his Ministerial Statement, brought nothing but doom and gloom as he once again mentioned what seems to be government’s favourite line lately which is “that due to financial challenges” it was not possible to accommodate the new elderly this financial year.

To put the last nail in the coffin, Dlamini dashed all hopes that the money would be released this financial year by stating that chances of a supplementary budget could not be guaranteed.

“Due to the current unfavorable cash flow position, the supplementary budget avenue cannot be guaranteed at the present moment as it would require additional financing,” the DPM said.

He said the elderly in the current financial year that required an additional budget stood at 15 667, which translated to a budgetary implication of E75.2 million.
The money that is expected to be received by the new elderly, who are estimated to be around 4 000, is approximately E19.2 million for 12 months. In giving a background of the situation, the DPM mentioned that in the financial year 2016/2017, there were 67 000 elderly who were receiving elderly grants and that the total budget was E170.8 million.

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