Africa-Press – Eswatini. The process of merging State owned enterprises (parastatals), which could save the country up to E2 billion, will begin in earnest next month.
This was disclosed by Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg when responding to questions from Lobamba Lomdzala Member of Parliament, Marwick Khumalo, during the 2022/2023 first quarter budget debate in the House of Assembly yesterday.
Khumalo had sought an update from the minister as to how far they had gone with the process and what would be the implications on current employees of the parastatals.
Actually, Khumalo who is Chairperson of the finance portfolio committee, called upon the minister to also table the report collated by Eswatini Economic Policy Analysis and Research Centre (ESEPARC) on the merging of parastatals to Parliament for further review.
Rijkenberg assured that interests of current employees of the parastatals would be taken into account when undertaking the process of merging parastatals.
“We will also be engaging the services of a consultant, which will handle retrenchments, if there will be any when the process starts in August,” Rijkenberg explained.
ESEPARC recommended a reduction of parastatals from 49 to about 30, which could result in significant cost savings for government.
The centre advised government to complete and close out parastatals implementing specific projects that have run their course.
The organisation recommended that these entities should be wound down and their activities closed over a specified period of 12 months.
It noted that for the Eswatini National Industrial Development Corporation (ENIDC), this could be done much quicker.
Skills
It also called for the repurpose of Sebenta National Institute for establishment of one non-formal education institution to coordinate skills development centres such as MITC, Mpaka and Nhlangano Vocational Centres.
The reports also recommended the shutdown of Eswatini Housing Board or repurposing it for maintenance of government buildings, which would fall under the ministry of public works and transport.
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