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ESWATINI HANDS SACU CHAIR TO LESOTHO

14/07/2023 07:31:00 Nhlanganiso Mkhonta

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MBABANE – After having set the bar high, the Kingdom of Eswatini will tomorrow officially hand over the Chairmanship of the SACU Summit, Council of Ministers and Commission to the Kingdom of Lesotho.

According to a press statement issued by the Southern African Customs Union’s (SACU) Executive Secretary, Thabo Khasipe, yesterday, the Kingdom of Lesotho will assume the SACU chairmanship effective from July 15, 2023 to July 14, 2024. Eswatini held the SACU Chair from July 15, 2022 ending today (July 14, 2023). It is worth noting that the SACU Chairmanship rotates among the member States for 12 months, in alphabetical order. Samuel Tsokoane Matekane, the Prime Minister of Lesotho, will assume the role of Chairperson of the SACU Summit, from His Majesty King Mswati III. The Minister of Finance in Lesotho, Retšelisitsoe Matlanyane, will assume the role of the Chairperson of the SACU Council of Ministers, taking over from the Minister of Finance, Neal Rijkenberg, of the Kingdom of Eswatini.

Taking

The Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Finance in Lesotho, Thoateng Lebona, will now be the Chairperson of the SACU Commission, taking over from Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Finance Sizakele Dlamini. Meanwhile, the Executive Director in the Ministry of Finance in Namibia Titus Ndove will be the Chairperson of Finance, Risk and Audit Committee, taking over from the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Finance in Lesotho Thoateng Lebona.

Tenure

During the His Majesty King Mswati III’s tenure as the SACU Summit Chairman, it was worth noting that the union’s member states had the highest receipts. For the Kingdom of Eswatini alone, the SACU receipt increased from E5.8 billion to E11.75 billion in the 2022/23 financial year. This was shared during the 8th SACU summit of Heads of States or government held in Mandvulo Grand Hall at Lozitha Palace on June 30. While giving the keynote address, the King said he was pleased that the union was experiencing positive developments in the collection of SACU receipts, which will contribute immensely to the social and economic development of the five countries which are Eswatini, South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana and Namibia.

Happy

“As Eswatini, we are happy that during our chairmanship all member states realised a windfall in our SACU receipts. ‘‘We need to maintain these positive results and standards to increase the returns even more,” he said. His Majesty told the delegates that the country’s receipts increased by a significant share of 102 per cent when compared to the previous year. “It is the first time seeing such high returns,” he said.

Factor

He explained that the contributing factor to the positive growth was the higher than projected outturn of the 2021/2022 Common Revenue Pool (CRP), together with the 25 per cent increase in the projected size of the CRP for 2023/2024 compared to 2022/2023 financial year. The increase in Eswatini’s share of total intra-SACU imports from 9.6 per cent in the revenue sharing framework for 2022/2023 to 10.8 per cent in 2023/2024 was also a contributing factor.