UNESWA OWES EMPLOYEES’ CO-OP OVER E10 MILLION

MBABANE – The University of Eswatini (UNESWA) is allegedly owing the employees’ cooperative over E10 million.

According to impeccable sources, this was money that was supposed to be remitted to Likusasa Letfu Cooperative.
It is said that the University of Eswatini has, however, failed to pay the owed money, despite the countless engagements and demands by the Board members of the cooperative. “The university owes over E10million to the Likusasa Letfu cooperative which belongs to employees of the university. We tried all we could to intervene in trying to have them pay but nothing helped,” a source was quoted by Eswatini News this week.
Dozens of colleges and universities from around the globe are reportedly under financial stress. They have spent the past decade grappling with declining enrolments and weakening support from their State governments.

Just like the other institutions, UNESWA, according to the sources disclosed that the misdemeanour had allegedly existed for more than 10 years, now. It is said the institution has, however, been deducting monies such as subscriptions, funeral policy instalments, savings and loan repayments on behalf of the employees, but the cooperative never received these monies. This was also confirmed by the Board Chairperson of the Cooperative, David Mavimbela, who however, said it was difficult for him to confirm the exact figure owed by the institution.

Repayment

“Yes, there is indeed a huge amount of money that is owed by UNESWA to the cooperative. We have been and are still engaging the institution over the repayment of these monies belonging to the employees,” Mavimbela confirmed. When asked by this publication as to how  the cooperative survived this long, without receiving any money from the university, Mavimbela said after the institution failed to remit the funds, they decided to use the banks’ stop order facilities. “We have since tried to resuscitate our services to our members by the use of the bank’s stop order facilities, so that operations could continue,” Mavimbela added.

Meanwhile, well-placed sources have further disclosed that the cooperative has not been able to pay them their annual dividends. “We haven’t been able to get loans from our cooperative for more than 10 years now. We have tried to engage the university administration for a long time but it seems the institution is broke and cannot afford to repay the owed money,” a UNESWA employee explained. A questionnaire was sent to UNESWA’s Registrar, Dr Salebona Simelane. Eswatini News asked Simelane to assist and respond to whether the allegation was true, that  UNESWA owed Likusasa Letfu Cooperative, a sum of over E10 million of unremitted funds?

He was further  asked if the allegations were true, that the university was doing something to repay the owed money belonging to the cooperative.
In his response Simelane said; “Yes, it is true that UNESWA owes the co-ops money in unpaid remittances, although I am not sure of the exact figure. The money shall be paid into their account when it becomes available,” Dr Simelane responded. The Office of the University Registrar supports the instructional and student progress endeavours of the University of Eswatini by providing quality services to students, staff, academic and administrative departments, and the public. The office has eleven units through which the office performs its functions.The institution has been challenged, whereby, it has failed to pay student allowances on time which has resulted in many protest actions and subsequent closures of the institution for several years now.

Unresolved

Parents have expressed their doubt about the quality of education provided by the university, following a litany of challenges it faced, that led to its closure. The parents’ prayers are for the solution to UNESWA’s challenges that have been eroding the institution, recently resulting in its closure. The stakeholders of the university have decried the avalanche of challenges; from finances, structures and safety, leading to sporadic protests, by both students and employees. The concern by the parents on the compromise of the quality of education started months ago, when employees of the university under the Association of Lecturers, Academic and Administrative Personnel (ALAAP) downed their tools over award performances (notching).

The strike by the employees was initiated after a deadlock was reached on the dispute between UNESWA and its employees, where a certificate of the unresolved dispute was issued in February this year. The university had been taken to the Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration Commission (CMAC) following grievances by employees on the issue of salary adjustments. Management had offered employees a three per cent cost-of-living adjustment (CoLA), but refused to allow the staff to notch, yet all along, each CoLA award came with notching. The employees have not been receiving their notching since 2018, due to the university declaring that there was a shortage of funds.The legal strike by the employees resulted in the closure of the university, and it was declared that there would be no teaching and learning for full-time and part-time students. The university stated that the closure was affected due to the interest of safety and security of staff and students.

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