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POVERTY REDUCTION NIGHTMARE

02/10/2020 01:02:00 BY SIBONGILE SUKATI

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LOBAMBA - The Community Poverty Reduction Fund (CPRF) has left emaSwati in worse poverty.

This is based on the submissions of about 150 emaSwati who appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to explain why they were defaulting on payments.

So bad was the situation that some elderly defaulters even offered to repay their balances using the E500 they receive as monthly grants from government.

They included those with disabilities who said they would also use part of their E270 grant to pay off the debts.

Businesses

A majority of the defaulters informed the PAC that their businesses had collapsed and gave various reasons, from bad weather, illness, deaths in the family, unsupportive children and just poor business decisions.

The CPRF, which was a revolving fund when launched in 2010, is under the Ministry of Tinkhundla, Administration and Development.

The Principal Secretary in the ministry, Nonhlanhla Dlamini, informed the PAC that the fund was launched in 2010 with an amount of E20 million.

She said about E18.8 million was released and only E8.5 million was recovered.

The PS informed the PAC that to date the outstanding balance stood at E10 501 000.

Chairperson of the PAC Matsanjeni North MP Phila Buthelezi asked all the defaulters to speak the truth and make promises which they would keep before the PAC.

The first defaulters to appear before the committee were from the Lubombo Region and a breakdown of the monies owed was presented by the Regional Secretary, Anthony Masilela.

He said about 103 people from the region had borrowed the money from the fund. Masilela said WW39 of them had paid off their loans while 34 had promised to appear before the PAC and they could not trace about 30 of them as their phones had either rung unanswered or were switched off.

Under Dvokodvweni Inkhundla, it was revealed that an amount of about E211 000 had been distributed.

Under Hlane Inkhundla, the PAC was informed that an amount of E736 000 was still outstanding.

One of the defaulters, Hlobisile Matsebula, informed the PAC that she had taken a loan of E35 000, which at first assisted her greatly until her husband fell sick and eventually died. She said she had initially borrowed the money for a farming project. However, she said upon resuming the business after taking care of her husband, she found it impossible to access water in her area as the situation had changed.

“Women from my area are treated as second class citizens and not prioritised,” she said. Matsebula said at the moment, she made a living through selling atchar and made a commitment to pay at least E416 per month until the debt was settled.

Meanwhile, Lindiwe Sikhondze said she had received E25 000 from the fund and had an outstanding debt of about E11 000. She informed the committee that she had been running a salon when the business collapsed, but committed to repaying at least E1 200 every month.

Meanwhile, Sipho Malambule, who had received a loan of E95 000, said he had purchased a tractor, but then fell sick. He informed the committee that as a result he sold the tractor for E50 000 and took care of his medical expenses. He said although he was now employed at Mhlume, he only earned E5 000 per month and had repaid E25 000.

Gege MP Musa Kunene, who is the deputy chairperson of the PAC highlighted that although their submissions sounded genuine they could not be lenient on the defaulters because the debt was almost 10 years old.

He said the ministry must ensure that they checked how much Malambule really earned before accepting the E500 monthly instalments he was offering.

Meanwhile, one Ezrome Gadla Mahlalela said he had received about E30 000 from government and was an artist who sculpted wood. He said his machinery was faulty, but he was making means to repay his outstanding balance of E10 000 by paying monthly instalments of E900.

Under Hlane Inkhundla, Margaret Makukula said she had borrowed E5 000 from the fund and she used to be a hawker selling clothes. She said when her business collapsed, she had already invested in the Swaziland Women Economic Empowerment (SWEET) bank where she paid E500 and was informed that they would get shares.

Money

“However, when I visited the SWEET offices we were told that there was no money,” she said. Makukula said she was presently unemployed and said she would try and pay E300 per month, although she did not know where she would get the money from.

On another note, elderly Sipho Cosmos Mkhwanazi had the committee in stitches as he revealed that ever since he had taken out the loan, nothing had gone right for him.

He, however, informed the PAC that he would be able to pay instalments of about E2 000 as he now owned a bus, which he would use to ferry cane cutters during harvesting season. Mkhwanazi said he had taken out a loan of about E26 000 as he wanted to purchase an engine and tyres for his bus. However, he said when COVID-19 hit, he was not able to carry passengers at full capacity, but promised that by June 2021 he wanted to have fully repaid his debt.

The PAC constantly reminded the defaulters that they should not make false commitments just because they had appeared before the committee.

They reminded them that the long arm of the law would catch up with them if they continued not to pay, especially since they had signed affidavits committing to make repayment.

On another note, the PAC was informed that outstanding debt from the Hhohho Region was about E2.1 million while the Shiselweni Region had outstanding payments of about E1.8 million.