While some legislators have questioned the fining of foreign nationals trading on Swazi Nation Land (SNL) with penalties reaching E7 000, one MP believes they should be taxed instead.
The E7 000, according to the legislators, is usually paid at the police station after inspections by officers from the ministry of commerce, industry and trade. Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo said the fines were adding insignificant value to the economy as opposed to the tax that foreign investors should be paying.
“We want tax from these people, not the fines. We should be devising means to collect tax which will be meaningful contribution to the economy,” he said.
Khumalo said since these foreigners cannot be wished away, government needed to find another way to deal with this situation. First to raise the matter was Nhlambeni MP Manzi Zwane who said some foreign investors seemed to be benefitting a lot from the country at the expense of the nation.
He claimed that companies like Kellogg’s enjoyed long tax holidays yet locals were not getting much from the company. His main concern was that some of these foreign companies had long tax breaks, something he said could result in huge losses if the investors could decide to shut down business at the end of their tax holidays.
“Let them at least make significant investment to the communities while they are still around.
“These people are making a lot of profit because they are not paying tax. They are also not contributing towards the setting up of structures because when they arrive they are given factory shells to operate from,” he said.
He said government needed a better strategy to solve the issue of investors operating from SNL.
Zombodze Emuva MP Ntando Mkhonta, Dvokodvweni MP Sifiso Shabalala and Ndzingeni MP Gcina Magagula shared similar sentiments with Zwane, adding that it was not clear what criteria was used or what factors were considered to determine the amount of money each trader was charged.
“Some of these people are charged E3 500 while others are made to part with E5 000 or even E7 000,” the MPs said.
Shabalala warned that the approach being used to tackle the issue was likely to brew hostility that could culminate to an uncontrollable situation. He even cited the bad blood that exists in neighbouring South Africa between SA citizens and foreigners, saying Eswatini should avoid this.
“Foreigners are already outnumbering us, so we need to thread carefully. We do not want to create situations that we will fail to control,” he said.
The legislator expressed concern that when the officers conducted inspections, they then lock the shops yet this leads to stock getting spoilt and the investors suffering loss. These issues were debated in parliament where Minister Manqoba Khumalo was represented by Health Minister Mduduzi Matsebula. When reached for comment later, Minister Khumalo said they usually conduct routine inspections based on existing policies.
“Any company found to be non-compliant is charged the fines as per the Trading Licences Act of 1975.
We are intensifying compliance to the law,” he said. Khumalo said the law states that foreigners are not allowed to operate on SNL.
