Africa-Press – Eswatini. A member of Parliament (MP) had his child disqualified from being a beneficiary of the government scholarship programme after he is alleged to have tried to defraud government.
The MP, who is known to this publication but whose name will be withheld for now, is alleged to have used his security guard in his bid to try and defraud government. He hails from the Manzini region. He is said to have instructed his security guard to pose as the child’s parent while appearing before the scholarship board.
The security guard is employed by the politician and was asked to pose as the parent to his child who had applied for scholarship to study at the University of Botswana (UB). However, the security guard was stopped dead in his tracks by the Scholarship Board, who then disqualified the student.
It has been claimed that the MP had asked the security guard to pose as the ‘fake parent’ because he feared that his child would not be granted scholarship on the basis that he could afford to cater for the minor’s tertiary education fees.
Minister of Labour and Social Security Phila Buthelezi confirmed that there were two children who were disqualified by the Scholarship Board after their parents were found to have lied about their relations with students. However, he did not name the affected students and parents.
The minister then warned parents not to try shady tactics when seeking government scholarships because the board would always be on the lookout and thorough in the process of both interviewing and sifting applicants to be granted scholarships.
Truthful
“We urge parents to be truthful and honest in the process of applying scholarships,” said Buthelezi.
Government, in the process of cutting down on the number of students to be sponsored into tertiary institutions by over 1 500, now assesses whether parents could afford to pay tertiary fees before granting a scholarship.
Apart from the general personal documentation such as Identity Cards (ID’s), the ministry of labour and social security called upon parents of students who were admitted to the University of Botswana to provide payslips and bank statements to assess their financial standing which culminates in determination as to whether their children will be awarded government scholarships or not.
Buthelezi announced that 2 550 new applicants for both local and Southern African Development Community (SADC) region would be granted scholarships during the incoming academic year. This reflected a decrease of 37.8 per cent when compared to the 4 100 who were awarded scholarships during the past academic year.
The actual number of students who could lose out on the scholarships opportunity stands at 1 550.
The State insisted that there would be no further scholarships awarded beyond this figure and appeals would not be considered unlike in past years where students who could not make it, would get a second opportunity through a review of their applications.
Government’s resolution was despite the fact that the candidature for the year 2021 increased by 40.08 per cent when compared with the 2020 entries. A total of 28 072 candidates sat for the 2021 Eswatini General Certificate of Secondary Education (EGCSE) examinations, while there were 19 931 candidates in 2020.
“Only 2 500 students will be sponsored by government locally and 50 in the SADC region. No further scholarships will be awarded beyond this figure and no appeals will be considered,” Buthelezi said.
For More News And Analysis About Eswatini Follow Africa-Press
