Africa-Press – Eswatini. Eswatini Revenue Service (ERS), which spent E235.9 million on salaries, wages and benefits for its 609 employees during the 2020/21 financial year, intends to conduct a salary benchmarking survey.
In the Request for Proposal (RFP) issued by Eswatini Public Procurement Regulatory Agency (ESPPRA), it was explained that the survey would be used to ensure remuneration and rewarding employees for performance on a fair and equitable basis, which remains core to the development of a high-performance culture.
It was explained that the ERS’s remuneration and reward philosophy was built on the pillars of fair and equitable remuneration, linked to performance, experience and knowledge, as well market remuneration.
ERS went on to disclose that the benchmark process should include other elements of total rewards such as leave, working conditions, benefits (pension, group life, disability benefits, and medical aid) to ensure that they were in line with what other similar companies offer employees as part of their total rewards package.
The successful consultant will be expected to ‘design a pay scale for ERS in support of the ERS strategy and culture, using current salaries (pay-grade averages) to inform mid-points, apply different pay ranges for normal staff vs management grades, using the TASK grading methodology.
“The pay scales should accommodate career ladders within each job family, providing the relevant deliverables/reports and presenting them to executive management committee.”
The E235.9 million ERS salaries slightly increased from the E234.8 million, which had been recorded during the same period last year when the staff complement was 608 employees.
The actual amount spent on the salaries, wages and other allowances in 2021 was E235 881 729.
In 2020, ERS paid out E234 761 321. The difference in the amount of salaries when compared was E1 120 408.
Independent calculations by the Eswatini Observer reflect that the change in salaries and wages equated to 0.48 per cent, which was far below inflation which currently stands at 3.7 per cent.
Overall, when putting into account provident fund contribution, pension contributions and leave pay provision, ERS paid E274 338 098 compared to E271 164 567 in 2020.
Former commissioner general, Dumisani Masilela, explained that the year 2020-21 had been the most difficult in the history of the existence of ERS.
It should, however, be clarified that the current acting commissioner general is Brightwell Nkambule.
It was reported that total tax revenue collections amounted to E9.945 billion against a target of E11.403 billion, which was a 13 per cent below target performance.
The revenue collections showed a shortfall of E1.458 billion on the set target and was also lower than prior year collections by 0.1 per cent.
It was pointed out that mixed performances were observed amongst the tax types with a few recording an above target performance whilst all major types recorded a below target performance.
Other income taxes were above target due to an increase in taxes paid by non-residents, while import motor vehicle levy recorded an above target performance due to an upward revision of the levy in the latter part of the financial year.
Company taxes, individual taxes, graded tax, road toll, lotteries and gaming, fuel tax, alcohol and tobacco levy were all below target, mainly due to the impact of the various restrictions put in place to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
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