SUPPLIERS STILL NOT PAID

MBABANE – With just three days to the end of the month, government owed suppliers and service providers are still to be paid their arrears.

This is despite that in the first week of the year, the Minister of Finance, Neal Rijkenberg, had promised that all suppliers and service providers would be paid by the end of the month.
The arrears incurred by the suppliers and service providers range around E2 billion in total. Rijkenberg, on January 6, 2020, said at the moment government was computing data to ascertain the number of suppliers that it was indebted to. He had projected that the compilation of the data would be completed by the second week of the month (mid-January).

Propagated

However, the Deputy President of the Federation of the Swazi Business Community (FESBC), Hezekiel Mabuza, said their members had not received a cent to date. Instead, Mabuza said what was communicated to FESBC was contrary to what Rijkenberg had propagated in local media. “We were informed that the arrears shall be settled by the end of February given that the supplementary budget has to go to Parliament,” Mabuza said. The entrepreneur was optimistic that the official opening of Parliament this Friday shall culminate in the fast tracking of the settlement of the arrears. This, he said, was essential given that it shall permit business proprietors to put the necessary pressure on government to settle its debts. “Businesses need the money as financiers charge interests for default payments while others (financiers) also charge penalties for same. And this money can’t be recouped from government as it would surpass the E1 billion mark.”

On the other hand, government late last year initiated a verification process which was an invitation extended to all entrepreneurs that conducted business with government. It invited them to resubmit their documents and undergo a verification process before they get paid.

Scheduling

At the time, Rijkenberg said, the method required proper scheduling and comprehensive stock taking. In the statement calling on suppliers owed by government to submit proof of service to government, the Finance Minister said all claims would be subjected to verification by the relevant line ministries and the Internal Audit Department before being passed on to treasury.
The claim, he said must be accompanied by a purchase order, tax invoice, delivery note, contract documents and the tender award.  “The arrears settlement schedule cannot be complete without confirmation of the outstanding payments by the affected suppliers through the submission of claims,” he emphasised.

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