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OVER E90M FOR POLITICIANS EXIT PACKAGES

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MBABANE – Broke as it is, government will part with way over E90 million in exit packages for politicians, legislators and emabandla of the 2013 to 2018 term.


Those who are entitled to the money are MPs, personal secretaries, ministers and other politicians who are not returning to be part of the 11th Parliament set to be constituted over the next three months.


Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini alone is going home with almost E1 million as his annual basic salary rests at over E900 000.
The money, according to Finance Circular no. 2 of 2013, constitutes 12 months’ salary of that particular officer.


If none of the outgoing legislators and politicians are reappointed or elected back to office, government will part with this amount before the end of the year.
A single minister who earns a salary of close to E60 000 is likely to exit with not less than E650 000, while a parliamentarian will walk away with over E450 000.


These packages exclude other benefits such as pension and cars.


ranging


Also leaving office with large amounts of money ranging between E100 000 and E120 000 per person, are cabinet ministers’ personal assistants.
When redirected to other national necessities, the total amount of exit packages could pay three months’ elderly grants covering the about 87 000 elderly people per month, who are beneficiaries of the grant.


The monthly elderly grants payment exercise consumes about E34 million per month as the cost also covers payment of the staff involved in the disbursement of the funds.
This payout is coming at a time when government is struggling with its finances, a situation that has been publicly declared by Finance Minister Martin Dlamini and Government Spokesperson Percy Simelane.


Government’s bankruptcy has resulted to government granting a zero per cent salary increase for over 44 000 civil servants.
These public workers have not received a salary increment for some years now as they also got a zero per cent increment last year.


intended


On another note, government is said to have redirected about E500 million intended for the civil servants’ cost of living adjustments (COLA).
The politicians’ payout would cover almost a third of this amount that is currently not available as Minister for Public Service Owen Nxumalo said a pile up of government’s responsibilities has led to the money not being available for now.


The Phalala Fund, which is haunted by debts to the tune of nearly E40 million, could have these settled using less than half of the money budgeted for politicians’ exit packages.


Over the years the Phalala debts have mainly resulted from unpaid remunerations to specialised health service providers in and outside the country.
The Ministry of Health’s Senate Portfolio Committee Report stated succinctly that the Fund has been faced with financial challenges for years.


Almost all government sectors are not immune to the effects of the financial crisis as the ministry of education also has a lot of financial needs that have not been met by government.


sending


These include the purchase of food for schools under the schools feeding scheme, which saw some schools sending pupils home because there was nothing to feed them at school.


Starting from January 2019, government is expected to pay in full the Free Primary Education (FPE) for over 30 000 pupils from Grade Two to Grade Seven.
All along this money has been paid out by the European Union (EU) until two months ago when the end of the agreement this year was communicated and signed for.


On an annual basis the EU paid out not less than E110 million for over 34 000 pupils in about 591 primary schools in the country.


contribute


Since the EU will next year contribute a larger percentage towards school fees for the first graders, this means government would have to pay less than E100 million for next year’s FPE, an amount that would be covered in full by the exit package of politicians due to be paid out before December this year.


Finance Principal Secretary Bheki Bhembe said as much as the ex-gratia payment was government’s obligation; it might not be fulfilled at the expected time.
“This is part and parcel of the terms and conditions’, meaning it is treated in a similar way as salaries. We cannot run away from this obligation until of course we renegotiate them if need be.”


Bhembe said as of now the obligation still stood. ‘‘We will provide for them, however, they will join the suppliers queue.’’ 
He said what he was sure would be paid out instantly was what government used to pay on a monthly basis over the years.


prevailing


“Everything else outside the monthly salaries will be affected by the prevailing cash flow situation,” he said.
The PS was informed about the expectation by some politicians who said they would only accept the possible delay if the ministry would address them and tell them about the exact situation.
“If there was going to be any address, we would have started with the suppliers who we are also indebted to. It would be a little awkward to begin with those we were indebted to later when we have not done same with those we have owed for a longer time,” he said.

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