Members of Parliament (MPs) have proposed for the removal of the scholarship award mandate from the ministry of labour and social security to the Eswatini Student Loan Revolving Fund from next financial year.
This transpired during the debate of the report of the select committee investigating the allegations of bribery and nepotism in awarding scholarships and the reasons for failure in implementing the Eswatini Student Loan Revolving Fund yesterday.
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The committee was chaired by Kubuta MP Masiphula Mamba who was deputised by Lomahasha MP Zanele Mashaba.
During the debate, MP Mamba said as a committee they met both the ministry of labour and social security as well as the ministry of finance among other stakeholders.
He said during their stakeholder consultation, they uncovered that the award of scholarships was irregular as some students provided proof that bribes were demanded from them to get scholarships.
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He said they were also shocked to discover that instead of implementing the regulations, the ministry and Cabinet resorted to establish a semi-autonomous department within the ministry to facilitate the disbursement of scholarships without bringing the regulations to Parliament for review.
He also mentioned that the ministry said they required in excess of E5 billion to establish the fund, while EswatiniBank, which was the bank chosen to administer the fund, said they were ready and willing to begin with the E60 million recovered by the scholarship recovery consortium.
He said according to their investigations, the ministry of labour was reluctant to sign a memorandum of understanding stating that they would lose about 80% of their revenue.
MP Zanele Mashaba supported her colleague, adding that the committee recommended for the full implementation of the regulations to prevent future delays in payment that resulted in class boycotts and vandalism.
During the debate, Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo and Mhlangatane MP Madala Mhlanga moved that in the next budgeting year, the funds should be removed from the ministry of labour and be directed towards the fund under the custody of EswatiniBank.
The legislators also questioned why the funds were allocated to the ministry this financial year yet there were regulations in place providing for the funds to be directed to the scholarship fund.
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