MINISTER of Finance Neal Rijkenberg has urged State-owned enterprises (SOEs) to be exemplary and lead in the paying of taxes.
Rijkenberg noted that when he became a minister, there were crises within parastatals with the disciplinary tribunals working actively on many cases.
He said this when commissioning the six-month salary review exercise for SOEs at the Eswatini Revenue Service (ERS) Headquarters at Ezulwini yesterday.
The consultant Emergence Human Capital will carry out the salary review exercise.
The review forms part of government’s efforts to ensure equitable, competitive and sustainable remuneration practices across the SOE sector.
The minister said parastatals were constantly making headlines for all the wrong reasons. He noted that they have since settled down, towing the line, doing things the best they can.
He said this does not mean that the parastatals no longer have problems. He added that now the problems were more externally generated than internally generated.
He commended the chief executive officers and chief financial officers for their hard work and dedication towards the positive change.
“Some parastatals delay or are a little bit behind on paying taxes. Please do keep up with paying taxes. It is the same taxes that come through for everything we need to do in the country.
“Therefore, please lead by example as parastatals in the country when it comes to paying taxes and provide the diligence that is needed.
“I also want to appeal to parastatals to support each other so that we can all do so better and ensure that the country goes ahead. For example support Eswatini Bank, I am not saying leave other entities in the bank space as our banks are critical. We really enjoy all relationships, but at the same time if we can give support where we can towards our own parastatals, please do,” urged Rijkenberg.
He said it was through support that everyone can progress better.
He also noted that at some point they would go down the road of SOE reforms. He noted that some reforms are necessary within the parastatals.
The minister clarified that the ministry’s lack of communication in time does not mean that the reforms have been left hanging.
Providing an update on the reforms, he said some of them needed to be reviewed properly. He said they would do the proper consultations; neat and tidy.
He said the SOEs must not be agitated or get anxious about the reforms. He stated they realised that the Public Enterprise Unit (PEU) legislation was not set correctly for them to do proper reforms.
“We are busy looking at our PEU legislation. When the legislation is done, and this takes time unfortunately, we will get back to that stage. We need to really make sure we do it the right way, the best for the country,” added Rijkenberg.
