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‘WHERE IS MOTSEPE’S E10M DONATION TO UNESWA?’

22/08/2022 08:41:00 Sibusiso Zwane

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MANZINI – Concerns have been raised on what happened to the E10 million donated by South African (sa) billionaire Dr Patrice Motsepe to the University of Eswatini (UNESWA).

There are claims that the money may have been mismanaged in that it was used for other things other than its intended projects. Nearly four years ago, Motsepe, through his foundation, pumped in E10 million to UNESWA and some concerned stakeholders suspect foul play in the management of the donation, as the institution has failed to carry out any of its planned projects. Motsepe is the current President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The SA mining mogul donated the E10 million through the Motsepe Foundation to UNESWA during its 38th graduation ceremony in October 2018. During the ceremony, Motsepe, who completed his Bachelor of Arts in Law at UNESWA in 1984, spoke on behalf of outstanding academicians and politicians who were conferred with honorary doctorates for excellence in their diverse fields or disciplines.

One of the concerned stakeholders said after the donation by Motsepe, who is no stranger to the country as he completed his O’Level in 1979 at St Mark’s High School before he proceeded to UNESWA, some of them made proposals on how the money could be used. For example, the stakeholder said students asked that part of the donation should be used to add accommodation in the university, which has three campuses; Kwaluseni, Luyengo and Mbabane. However, the stakeholder said later on, the university administration presented a documented plan for the E10 million donation. It was said among other things, the plan was that the donation would be used to construct a library at Mbabane Campus, new classrooms at Kwaluseni Campus and offices. It was said some of the suggestions from stakeholders, like accommodation for students, were not considered.

“The issue now is not about the fact that our suggestions were ignored, but where the university had used the money because it had not even implemented its own planned projects?” the stakeholder wondered. In fact, the concerned stakeholder said the manner in which the matter was handled and considering the cash flow challenges which are faced by the institution, one could not rule out that the funds may have been utilised elsewhere.

Stakeholders

Other stakeholders who were contacted about the issue, including the student body, students representative council (SRC), shared the same sentiments. They argued that under normal circumstances, projects were usually delayed by the lack of funds, but in this case, a sum of E10 million was donated, which meant that money was available. “The question is why the planned projects are not carried out when the money is still available?” wondered some of the stakeholders. They said after the university administration had presented their plan on how they would use the E10 million, which according to their understanding was part of the Motsepe Foundation’s conditions of the donations, contractors were engaged in the development of classes at Kwaluseni and Mbabane Campuses and Chakaza Holding Company signed a contract. Thereafter, he said at around the last quarter of 2019/20 financial year (February/March 2020), Chakaza Holding Company, which was reported to have partnered with Eswatini Asset Developers to subcontract in the construction of the said buildings, set up its construction site at Kwaluseni Campus.

Classrooms

A visit by this publication at the tertiary institution in March 2022 found that the site had already been established. On the same note, at that time, UNESWA Registrar Dr Salebona Simelane said the money would construct classrooms and offices at the two aforementioned campuses. He confirmed that the university invited tenderers and one was awarded. He added that construction would commence soon. However, later on, this publication learnt that the contract signed by the construction company with the university had been cancelled and the construction of classes had been stopped. The reasons for this were not clear. Indeed, this publication discovered that the construction company had packed its property and left the construction site at Kwaluseni Campus. Following these developments, the concerned stakeholders said this left them with unanswered questions and emphasised that a reasonable person could not rule out that the funds of implementing the projects were used somewhere else. They said this assumption could be based on the cash flow challenges which were faced by the institution.

Meeting

UNESWA SRC Secretary General Lindokuhle Mabuza said they had made some enquiries about the matter from the administration, but they never got responses. Instead, he said they had been invited to a meeting today. However, he pointed out that in as much as they did not have information about what was happening with the money, they believed that it was long used.
On the other hand, the university’s Association of Lecturers, Academic and Administrative Personnel (ALAAP) General Secretary, Dr Mduduzi Shongwe, said in as much as they were aware of the donation and the circulating suspicions, the matter had not been discussed at union level.

It is worth noting that the cash flow challenges which are faced by the university were recently revealed by the Auditor General (AG), Timothy Matsebula, in his recent compliance report.
The report showed that UNESWA was among the about 22 public companies whose future looked bleak as they were owing huge taxes. The situation was so dire in the about 22 parastatals such that the AG noted that they might need a serious government bailout to be able to sustain their operations going forward.

At UNESWA, the AG noted that for the year ended March 31, 2021, the institution had an accumulated deficit of E1 087 171 217 and a net operating deficit of E189 172 410. He also noted that its liabilities exceeded its assets by E947 119 955 and outstanding unremitted taxes to the Eswatini Revenue Service (ERS) amounted to E688 208 822. The report also disclosed that the university received at least 70 per cent of its funding through subventions from government and on average, the university received 40 per cent of what it had requested from government.

Also, the university literally subsists on credit from suppliers. This means that it obtains goods and services on credit and fails to pay some of the suppliers. The AG also expressed concern that since government’s revenue streams were declining, without increased subventions or other means of generating income within the university, the services provided to the public could not be sustainable, in the near future.

Overdraft

He said the university was also at risk of losing assets that were held as security for a bank overdraft facility, which had significantly increased by E19 359 885, from E7 938 865 to E27 298 750. It is also worth mentioning that when making the donation, the mining magnate said; “On behalf of the Motsepe Foundation, we are going to donate E10 million. They will tell us where they will use the money as I have no clue of where it is needed the most.” Be that as it may, Motsepe pointed out that the money should benefit all students academically, by making learning smooth. Expanding on his remarks, he added that he sat on the advisory committee of Harvard University in America. He said being part of the committee was a learning experience as he got to interact with the most successful academics worldwide as well as prominent entrepreneurs and businesspeople.