SEDCO ESTATES LOSE TENANTS, DROP IN REVENUE

MBABANE – Some SEDCO estates have been hard-hit by the advent of COVID-19 following the exit of tenants.

SEDCO is the Small Enterprises Development Company (SEDCO) and it is a public enterprise that is wholly-owned by the Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini. It is an organisation established to create, develop and promote small, micro and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the country. It has been gathered that most tenants have since vacated the premises across the country due to the impact of COVID-19. Most of the affected were selling uniforms and they have been forced out of business due to the closure of schools for about a year. The payment holiday granted by SEDCO late last year did little to rescue some of the businesses.

There were some empty shops when a random visit was made at SEDCO offices in Mbabane yesterday. SEDCO Stakeholder Relations Specialist Mxolisi Dlamini confirmed the exit of some tenants across, but he was still to compile the full list of the empty shops at the time of compiling this report. He assured that it was not all doom and gloom, as estates in Manzini and Pigg’s Peak were full.  This publication wanted to ascertain the total number of lost tenants so far; the most affected areas; and the average monthly loss in revenue. In the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade’s 2020/21 annual performance report, it was reported that SEDCO revenue recovery continued to be under stress, as only E854 538 (68 per cent) was collected against E1 184 875 invoiced in the quarter. “This is also exacerbated by the fact that 56 workshops (32 per cent) were vacant.

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“Manzini, Matsapha and Nhlangano continued to be the best performing estates with 89, 83 and 83 recovery rates, respectively,” reads the report. Mbabane estate, according to the report, had the least performance, as it recovered the lowest amount. Only 29 per cent of the E215 940 invoiced was recovered in the period under review. “Most of engaged entrepreneurs were quite optimistic that their businesses will improve when schools open in 2021 and then they will settle their rent arrears,” reads the report. The delay in reopening of schools has partly caused some of the entrepreneurs to totally struggle to settle their rent arrears.

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