Africa-Press – Eswatini. Neal Rijikernberg, the Minister of Finance has admitted that there’s is no money for protesting University students’ allowances.
This comes after Colani Maseko,the President of the Swaziland National Union of Students(SNUS) announced the closure of all Universities in the country due to Government’s failure to pay allowances on time.
In a public statement released on Thursday afternoon, Finance Minister Neal Rijikernberg said allowances for the year 2021/2022 were delayed due to budget constraints.
“Since scholarship awards are not a once-off one-year commitment,the budget allocation for scholarships, constrained by limited Government resources,proved to be inadequate.This explains why the students’ allowances could not be paid from the financial year 2021/22 budget,hence the revised timeline to ensure these are charged in the 2022/23 budget”, reads the statement in part.
Reached for comments, Colani Maseko, the President of the Swaziland National Union of Students (SNUS) said Mswati’s Govermnent has dismally failed to cater for students.
“It’s disturbing that the Government has enough money to cater for the royal luxury but has no money to cater for students who are the future patriots of this beautiful land.We have no choice, but to commit ourselves in liberating the country because we know that our issues as students will be better addressed in a democratic Government”, said the Students Union President.
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