HIGHER EDUCATION COUNCIL CLOSED SCU, NOT US – GOVT

MBABANE – Government is now distancing itself from the suspension of operations at the Swaziland Christian University (SCU).
Instead, it is shifting the blame onto the Swaziland Higher Education Council (SHEC).

Acting Financial Controller in the Minister of Education and Training, Thandokuhle Mkhonta, further denied that there was any employer and employee relationship between it and the workers of the university.
Government said it should be excused from the matter between the workers and the learning institution, as it had no duty to pay salaries for SCU employees. “I deny that the Swaziland Government has since suspended the operations of SCU and that it unilaterally stopped paying the subventions as agreed,” he stated

This is contained in government’s answering papers in the matter where 74 employees of the university are demanding payment of their September salaries.
The employees, who include lecturers and non- academic staff members, have since taken government and the Africa Continent Mission to court.
Mkhonta stated that government signed an Addendum with Africa Continent Mission. He mentioned that government committed to providing Africa Continent Mission with an annual subvention of E27 million.
Mkhonta stated that the period for the provision of the annual subvention was effective from financial year 2014 to 2018.

He alleged that since the commencement of the Memorandum of Agreement, the Ministry of Education and Training allocated the agreed subvention to the Africa Continent Mission.
The acting financial controller pointed out that monies for the institution’s second quarter subvention, which ran from only July to September of every year, were released to it on July 6, 2017.

He said it was common practice that parastatals submitted written requests for the release of their subvention on a quarterly basis. Mkhonta said even Africa Continent Mission, which was not a government parastatal, had to be subvented.
“Africa Mission Continent did not request for the release of the subvention for the third quarter, instead it made a wrong request for its subvention for the fourth quarter,” averred Mkhonta.
According to Mkhonta, the Ministry of Education and Training was awaiting the submission of a request for the release of the third quarter subvention, which would cover the months of October to December 2017, when the institution’s operations were suspended by the Swaziland Higher Education Council.

He went on to tell the court that the fourth quarter subvention was from the month of January to March of every year. “Therefore, the Ministry of Education and Training does not owe Africa Continent Mission any subvention for the month of September 2017,” he argued.
Mkhonta mentioned that the subvention would resume upon resumption of SCU’s operations.

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