Government suppliers have cried foul over following a week of broken promises regarding government payments.
Despite recent assurances from the ministry of finance that the arrival of E800 million from the OPEC Fund for International Development would clear long-standing arrears, the reality on the ground tells a much bleaker story.
Last Tuesday, a tiny fraction of suppliers finally saw movement in their accounts, but the figures were far from the relief they had been expecting.
Reports indicate that the highest payment disbursed to any single supplier was a mere E7 000, an amount that business owners described as an insult to the scale of debt they are currently carrying.
This financial bottleneck comes directly after Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg assured the nation that the capital injection from the OPEC Fund would provide immediate relief to a private sector grappling with mounting debt.
The minister had publicly stated that payments would be processed starting last week, giving hope to hundreds of directors who have been struggling to keep their doors open.
However, as the week drew to a close, the promised capital injection seemed more like a trickle, leaving the vast majority of creditors with empty hands and mounting pressure from their own lenders.
Representing the frustrated business owners, Boyson Mamba of the Federation of Eswatini Business Community (FESBC) Hhohho Committee, did not hold back in his assessment of the situation.
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He accused government of misrepresenting the truth regarding the settlement of the E100 million debts.
Mamba noted that the minister’s public statements have inadvertently put suppliers in a dangerous position with their own creditors.
“This is very sad because we have been patiently waiting for the payment, and we had hoped that the funds from the OPEC Fund will bring the much-needed relief, but it is not the case; the minister is just sending a wrong impression.
“The reports suggesting they are being paid are damaging their reputation with creditors who believe they have already received their money,” Mamba stated.
The timing of this failure is particularly stinging given the history of the dispute.
In November 2025, the tension reached breaking point when nearly 50 directors of various service providers staged a public picket outside the Treasury Department.
These entrepreneurs demanded payment for work completed more than eight months prior, highlighting the life-or-death struggle of local enterprises.
Following that protest, the minister had repeatedly assured the private sector that once the OPEC funds came through, all outstanding invoices would be settled in full.
What makes the current liquidity crisis even more confusing for the business sector is the substantial revenue government has recently accessed.
In addition to the E800 million from OPEC, government received E2.6 billion from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) in January.
SACU revenue remains a cornerstone of the national budget, and the combination of these two massive payouts was expected to ease the pressure on the national fiscus significantly.
During a recent ‘Finance in Focus’ briefing, Minister Rijkenberg admitted that government still owed suppliers approximately E100 million, yet he maintained that significant progress was being made.
While the ministry claims that tax collections and funding from the African Development Bank (AfDB) have helped settle the bulk of arrears, the small-scale businesses say they are being left behind.
The discrepancy between government’s official narrative of progress and the E7 000 reality for suppliers suggests a deep disconnect in the corridors of power.
FESBC had previously raised serious concerns about the worsening plight of its members, highlighting the human cost of delayed payments.
The federation reported that prolonged financial and emotional distress led to severe health issues among some business owners, with others reportedly dying before receiving payment for their services.
Efforts to obtain a comment from Rijkenberg were unsuccessful as his phone went unanswered when contacted yesterday.
