Africa-Press – Eswatini. Over 100 civil servants earned E0.00 this month.
The civil servants face having a bleak Christmas as arrears, penalties and this month’s instalment owed to Bunye Betfu Buhle Betfu Co-operative Society, (SACCO) were deducted from their salaries. Bunye Betfu Buhle Betfu is a savings and credit co-operative society (SACCO). The SACCO, according to its website, draws its membership from employees within the public sector and currently has a membership of about 5 784, which is about 14 per cent of the total population of employed civil servants.
According to sources, some civil servants had two forms of loans with the co-operative. They had short-term and long-term loans. Among those who earned E0.00, were those who had their short-term loans instalments deducted from their banking institutions at a particular date aligned to when they were remunerated monthly.
On the other hand, they had their long-term loans deducted from the source of their income, which is the Treasury Department, under the Ministry of Finance. One of the civil servants, who earned E0.00, admitted to this publication that he had been defaulting on paying his instalments at the bank.
The civil servant said he had been withdrawing all the money from his bank account for the past three months, without paying what he had agreed to repay to the co-operative. The civil servant complained that, even though he was in the wrong, the co-operative should not have deducted everything from his account, resulting in him being paid nothing.
Instead, he said the co-operative should have informed its members that they would be deducting all outstanding debts this month, so that they could have made alternative plans. “At this point, I have nothing and I do not know what my children will eat as I cannot afford to buy food and do not know how I will pay for bus fare when commuting to work,” he said. The civil servant claimed to have first suspected that there was a problem with his account and was ready to confront the bank when he received communication; through a short message service (SMS), informing him and other civil servants about deduction of the monies.
The message informed members of Bunye Betfu that those who were defaulting on the repayment of their loans, the system had deducted all arrears and penalties thereto. Another civil servant claimed that the deduction of the outstanding balances from her bank account was a spirit damper, which meant that she would not have adequate food during the festive season.
Enquire
The member of the SACCO said she would today visit their offices to enquire on same and find a way of consolidating her debts so that she could afford her basic necessities. On the other hand, the Treasurer of Bunye Betfu, Nompumelelo Nkambule, said the issue had been reported to them. In fact, she said they had been inundated with calls from some of the members of the SACCO, who were seeking answers on this issue.
“Those affected have been defaulting and unfortunately, we have been changing our systems for efficiency in the collection of instalments. So, the new system detected arrears and penalties. It deducted these amounts, including this month’s instalments from their accounts,” Nkambule said. She said it was essential for people to know that when they engaged in any inappropriate conduct, it shall always catch up with them. Despite this, she said the system administrator of the cooperative was working on the issue.
Bunye Betfu is said to be one of the largest Cooperatives Societies in the country and its value is estimated to be more than E250 million and with membership consisting of civil servants and few government parastatals (majority being civil servants).
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