Only four of our suppliers paid by govt – FESBC

MBABANE – Government suppliers under FESBC have expressed concern on delays in obtaining payment by government for goods and services rendered.

They said only four, out of 80, were paid by yesterday.

This was confirmed by the Federation of Eswatini Business Community (FESBC) Chief Executive Officer, Ben Simelane, when interviewed on the payment of government suppliers yesterday.

This is despite that this past Sunday, Minister for Finance, Neal Rijkenberg, assured the suppliers that they would be paid as government has made plans to release around E130 million to settle part of its debt with its suppliers. Simelane revealed that on Tuesday evening, he had a confirmation of only one paid supplier and the expectation was that further payments would be made yesterday. However, Simelane only confirmed three more payments, taking the number of paid suppliers to only four.

Simelane stated that the situation is dire for some of the federation’s members, as they have financial commitments they need to settle with financial institutions.

“It is really depressing, to say the least. We are cognisant of the efforts that government is doing to help the situation, but we are at a point where we need it to happen. Assurances have been made, we now need action so that our members can be relieved from the stress they are enduring,” he said.

On Friday, nearly 50 business owners who provide goods and services to government ministries staged a picket outside the Treasury Department in the Ministry of Finance in Mbabane, demanding payment for work completed more than six months ago.

Our sister publication, Eswatini News, reported that the suppliers displayed placards with messages such as ‘ningasitjeli nge network’, meaning, don’t blame the network.

The visibly frustrated suppliers said the prolonged delay in receiving their dues had crippled their operations, leaving them unable to pay employees, settle tax obligations or meet contractual commitments.

Minister for Finance, Neal Rijkenberg, revealed that when checking with the accountant general, he was told that a number of suppliers were paid. “It is possible that most of them are not affiliated to FESBC,” read a response from the AG shared by the minister. Business Eswatini (BE) Trade and Commerce Head, Musa Maseko, revealed that they do not normally conduct a survey on the payment of their suppliers, hence he did not have an immediate response on how many had been paid as of yesterday. Last month, the Ministry of Finance successfully negotiated with representatives from the OPEC Fund for International Development, a Fiscal Management and Competitive Development Policy Financing loan not exceeding E858 million (US$50 000 000) for a budget support lending program and the money is intended to settle arears with suppliers.

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