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TIBIYO BAILS OUT CASH-STRAPPED GOVERNMENT

19/08/2018 01:12:00 BY MFANUKHONA NKAMBULE

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mfanukhona@yahoo.co.uk

LOZITHA – Tibiyo TakaNgwane has quite often rescued cash-strapped government from financial embarrassment.
This, the national investment company did when government failed to meet its financial obligations.

A document seen by this newspaper reflects that Tibiyo is currently being owed E100 million by government in services rendered to it. Partly, that was money used to buy food items for the army.

The investment company held by His Majesty the King in trust for emaSwati, has reportedly not pressurised government to settle its debts but understood and embraced its (government) cash flow challenges. This was said by sources close to both government and Tibiyo TakaNgwane.

The sources told the Times SUNDAY the organisation released some money when the government, through the Ministry of Defence, had failed to buy food for the army. The mission of the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force (UEDF) is to defend and protect the Kingdom of Eswatini, its national interests and values, provide support to the civil power in maintenance of law and order, while contributing to regional and international peace and stability. The primary objective of the UEDF is to defend and protect the sovereignty and integrity and emaSwati in accordance with the Constitution, and the principles of international law regulating the use of force.

Some services rendered to govt sensitive

Some of the services rendered by Tibiyo to government are sensitive and cannot be published on ethical grounds.
One particular informed source close to the Ministry of Defence, said his ministry was one of those that quite often received some financial help from the investment company. This happened in dire time of need.

“Tibiyo spent huge amounts of money on buying large quantities of food for the army,” stated the source.
In June 2018, government indicated that it might not be able to pay salaries for civil servants. In that month alone, it was reported that E1.1billion was required to settle priority expenditure that could not be overlooked.

Of that amount, E702 million was for salaries for one month. The one-month wage included payment of on-call allowances of E56 million, while E363 million was to settle outstanding deductions for pension and cooperatives that were due in May 2018.

Minister of Finance Martin Dlamini told the House of Assembly in June 2018 when he tabled a report on the country’s financial status. He said government’s cash flow position had had an enormous negative impact on the payment of its trading partners. The minister of finance said the partners included suppliers and contractors. He told the House that government also struggled to meet its priority expenditure obligations such as salaries, debt service, statutory payments and transfers.

He promised that government was trying everything possible to ensure those priority payment obligations such as salaries and other statutory transfers were met, in spite of the cash flow challenges. He said cash flow problems were expected to continue into the medium term.

The Times SUNDAY asked Absalom Themba Dlamini, the Managing Director of Tibiyo, what the national company was doing to help the taxpayer because government was obviously experiencing a serious cash flow problem. In response, Dlamini was brief; saying the issue was sensitive and declined vehemently to delve into its details, rather choosing to say: “Tibiyo has done a lot to help government.”

Tibiyo contribute immensely to the economy

He pointed out that he did not want to single out ministries and departments that had received financial assistance from Tibiyo TakaNgwane. He did not want to talk about the E100 million reportedly being owed by government.

Complementing government, he said, the organisation paid tertiary scholarships and bursaries to secondary school pupils. He said there were a lot of subsidies released by the national company to aid government.

Dlamini added that cultural and religious activities were often financed by the company as well.
He pointed out that the sugar industry was performing poorly at the moment, resulting in dwindling dividends. Despite the sugar industry’s poor performance, he said Tibiyo continued to contribute immensely to the economy.