ATTEMPT TO WAIVE EEC’S E230 ON BUSINESSES FAILS

LOBAMBA – A move to get government to waive the accumulated E230 electricity basic charge for small and medium businesses failed in Parliament yesterday.

The attempt to have the electricity charge waived came in the form of a motion which was raised by Lobamba Lomdzala Member of Parliament (MP), Marwick Khumalo, during a sitting in the House of Assembly yesterday. The motion was requesting the Acting Minister of Natural Resources and Energy, Jabulani Mabuza, to inform the House why he was not calling upon the Eswatini Electricity Company (EEC) to waive the accumulated E230 basic charge for small and medium businesses during the two-year hiatus of COVID-19. The minister told MPs that EEC was inviting all affected businesses to negotiate with the company in terms of agreeing on a staggered payment or in a worse case, pay for three months only as that was part of the mitigating options.

However, he said businesses should provide proof that would convince the entity that they were indeed greatly affected by COVID-19 to the point of closure, because as much as there were business disruptions, the company still needed the money for maintenance. This sparked a debate as MPs were anticipating that the E230 charge would be waived as a cushion to the small businesses that got the hardest blow during the COVID-19 era. Ndzingeni MP Lutfo Dlamini said the businesses were closed by government at the height of COVID-19 and it was an executive decision. He asked the minister why government was failing to employ the same executive decision on the matter at hand than advising businesses to go to EEC for mitigation. Siphocosini MP Mduduzi Matsebula wondered why the businessespeople were made to provide proof when it was government who shut down businesses in the first place. “What more proof should they have if they were ordered by government to shut down their businesses?” he asked.

Schools

Matsebula also asked why schools and water schemes were not exempted from the E230 electricity charge because schools, in particular, were also closed at the height of COVID-19.
Khumalo, who moved the motion, also put it to the minister to give clarity on when the entity actually issued a statement inviting businessespeople to mitigate the charge as earlier revealed by the minister, stating that to his knowledge, there was never a statement on same. He also submitted that some of these businesses were not even making the E230 as profit and he made an example of barbers, who form part of the businesses whose operations were disrupted. “Is it fair to pay E230 while one was doing nothing and generating no income? We should be mindful that this is the same government that waived corporate tax,” Khumalo said.

Nkilongo MP Timothy Myeni spoke on behalf of churches, who are also in the same bracket as the businesses expected to pay the E230 electricity charge, and he requested the minister to substantiate how a church was a business. However, before the minister could respond to that, Kwaluseni MP Mabhanisi Dlamini reminded Myeni that some churches were registered as businesses and the latter was fully aware of that. Mahlangatsha MP Musa Ngcobo wondered why EEC wanted maintenance funds knowing well that businesses were not operational. In his response, Mabuza said businesses had engaged in an agreement with the service provider and that agreement was between the two parties, hence government could not interfere in that agreement nor negotiations between the two parties.

Sympathising

He said EEC was sympathising with businesses, especially on the disruptions of its operations at the height of COVID-19, but the closure of the businesses did not mean EEC should not get the maintenance money. “Take for example your tractor, if it is parked for a long time, you still need to service it, see to it that it is fully functional before it operates again and that comes with costs,” he said. When asked why he was failing to call for the waiver as the minister of the responsible ministry, Mabuza said he could not waive because he respected laws of Parliament and he had to check if there was any law that gave him the powers to make a call of this fashion. On churches, the minister said they too got in an agreement with EEC and whether they were businesses or not, they should respect that agreement. This was inclusive of schools and water schemes as asked by Siphocosini MP Mduduzi Matsebula. 

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