The Swazi Government has run out of cash and is living
hand-to-mouth. It has to wait for the Swaziland Revenue Authority to put tax
collections into its account each Monday before it can pay bills.
The revelation was made by the Sunday Observer (6 May 2018), one of the newspapers in Swaziland in
effect owned by the kingdom’s absolute monarch King Mswati III.
In March, Martin Dlamini, the Finance Minister
announced the Government owed
its suppliers E3.1 billion.
The newspaper reported that the latest cash crisis to
become public knowledge involved mothers who received child maintenance
payments through the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office. This involved fathers who
are public servants and have court orders against them for maintenance payments
that are collected through salaries. The Times
of Swaziland, the only independent daily newspaper in the kingdom, had
reported that the money had been collected but not passed on to the mothers.
Instead, it had been used by the government to pay debts. About E600,000 (US$48,000)
is reportedly collected for maintenance payments each month.
The Observer
reported that payments were being delayed. It said government was ‘living-hand-to-mouth’
and issuing cheques in ‘dribs and drabs’.
The newspaper reported, ‘According to well-placed
Ministry of Finance sources, there is no money in government’s coffers and the situation
has bred a system of wait and see before cheques are printed.’
It quoted the source saying, ‘Government has no money
so what we do is stall printing and issuing because they will bounce causing
embarrassment.’
The newspaper said government depended on the Swaziland
Revenue Authority. ‘Every Monday they sweep money from their collections
account into government’s consolidated funds.’
Although the newspaper reported government waited for
funds from the Swaziland Revenue Authority no mention was made of two other
sources of funding. The King holds 25 percent of all mining royalties and
controls Tibiyo Taka Ngwane, a conglomerate that
includes, Dalcrue Agricultural Holdings, Inyoni Yami Swaziland Insurance, Royal
Swaziland Sugar Corporation, Ubombo Sugar Limited, Bhunu Mall, Nedbank
Swaziland, Simunye Plaza, The Swazi
Observer, Tibiyo Properties, Maloma Colliery, Parmalat Swaziland, Swaziland
Beverages and Swazi Spa Holdings.
The King holds these ‘in trust’ for the Swazi nation but no records are
made public of how profits are spent. In 2016 it
was reported Tibiyo Taka Ngwane
had revenues of E239 million and assets worth E1.8 billion.
Last month Swaziland held so-called 50/50 Celebrations
to mark the King’s 50th birthday and the half-century anniversary of
the kingdom’s Independence from Britain. The Swazi Government has been coy
about the costs of the celebrations.
On 19 April 2018 King Mswati wore a watch
worth US$1.6 million and a suit
studded with diamonds at a party for 700 guests. Days before he took delivery
of his second private jet. This one, an A340-300
Airbus had a purchase price of US$13.2 million, but with VIP upgrades it reportedly
cost about US$30 million, paid or out of state funds.
The King also has 13 palaces and fleets of
top-of-the-range BMW and Mercedes cars. His wives regularly travel the world on
shopping sprees costing millions of dollars. Meanwhile, seven in ten of the 1.1
million population live in abject poverty on incomes less than the equivalent
of US$2 per day.
In September 2017 the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) reported that increased government spending in Swaziland resulted in the
highest deficit since 2010. It said the outlook for the future of the economy
was ‘fragile’ and that the medium term outlook was ‘unsustainable’ without
policy changes.
It also said the governance of public entities was
poor.
The IMF recommended that the government should contain
‘the bloated government wage bill’, curb non-essential purchases and prioritize
capital outlays.
See also
SWAZI
GOVERNMENT ‘IS BROKE’
SWAZI
KING’S BUDGET INCREASES US$14 MILLION
THREAT
TO LIFE AS GOVERNMENT DOESN’T PAY BILLS
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