…..Minister Neal Rijkenberg and PS Sizakele also take SACU hot seats
BY MBONGENI NDLELA
MBABANE – TODAY, 15 July 2022 is a remarkable day for the Kingdom of Eswatini as His Majesty the King assumes the role of the Chairperson of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) Summit.
The King, who is also gracing the Correctional Services Day in Matsapha, takes over from the President of Botswana Dr Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi who held SACU Chair from 15 July 2021 until yesterday.
Worth celebrating is that the Kingdom of Eswatini assumes three SACU seats today; the Chairmanship of the SACU Summit, Council of Ministers, and Commission.
His Majesty the King, Minister of Finance and Finance PS will be in charge of these hot seats until 14 July 2023, as confirmed in a statement released this week. The SACU Chairmanship rotates among the Member States for a period of twelve months, in alphabetical order.
Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg, will assume the role of Chairperson of the SACU Council of Ministers, taking over from Botswana’s Minister of Finance, Peggy Serame.
Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Finance Sizakele Dlamini, takes over as the Chairperson of the SACU Commission, from the Secretary for Economic and Financial Policy in the Ministry of Finance of Botswana, will be Mr. Kelapile Ndobano.
It has been stated that the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Finance in Lesotho, Nthoateng Lebona, will be the Chairperson of the Finance and Audit Committee, taking over from the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Finance of Eswatini, Sizakele Dlamini.
Explaining what Eswatini stand to benefit from SACU seats, Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg said all the SACU meetings will take place in Eswatini which will boost the country’s tourism sector.
“The beauty is that in the years of COVID, physical meetings were not taking place and SACU Chairmanship was held by other countries. But now that the traveling has resumed and physical meetings are back, we are very lucky that as a country we are hosting SACU. It is going to help the tourism industry because there will be many meetings throughout the year. In different segments, ministers will meet two or three times and heads of state once, but at the secretariat level, there will be many meetings and will be hosted in Eswatini as hosts. From that point of view there is a benefit for the Eswatini,” he said.
A message from Minister Neal to the Eswatini Tourism sector:
As a government, we are all working together to try and support each other. In this case, obviously, through the ministry of finance being SACU chair, it really helps another industry more than necessary helping finance. From that point of view, is just to encourage the industry as a whole, COVID is now leaving, tourism is now opening up, and being part of SACU at the same time really helps to push extra energy into that space, extra movement into that space. It is really encouraging to the ministry to almost re-invest and give the economy what it needs In order to climb out of the doldrums of the tourism sector.
