BY MBONO MDLULI
LOBAMBA – The Revenue Offices under the Ministry of Finance will soon be under the Eswatini Revenue Services (ERS).
This was revealed by Minister for Finance Neal Rijkenberg today during the performance debate of the Ministry of Finance for the year 2023/24 in the House of Assembly.
Minister Rijkenberg said this in response to a submission made by Ngudzeni Member of Parliament (MP) Charles Ndlovu. Ndlovu said the Revenue Offices were slow in rendering services to the people.
Ndlovu even stated that on top of being slow, the offices did not have adequate number of officers to service the people. “It looks like the Revenue workers do not have the spirit of ‘nkwe’ when they do their work and I do not know why that is the case,” Ndlovu said.
The Ngudzeni assemblyman was concerned that seemingly, the spirit of ‘nkwe’ was only seen from Ministers and Principal Secretaries and other officers within Government. That spirit, which was ordered by the King during the conclusion of Sibaya, could not trickle down to the junior officers who dealt directly with the people.
Ndlovu said it was painful that people who had brought money to Government were not taken seriously.
Minister Rijkenberg, in response, said the service could be slow because the process of the assimilation of the offices into the ERS was now under way. The Minister pointed out that the transfer of the offices was done so that the service could be improved because it was not good for members of the public to stand in long queues, exposed to unfriendly weather conditions, just because they wanted to pay money.
