By SIBUSISO DLAMINI | 2024-11-05

If the University of Eswatini Task Team wants answers to the financial collapse of the institution, findings in a report conducted in 2020 may be the solution.

This report, however, was never implemented despite that it laid bare the issues that were draining the university, including providing a pathway to which these could be resolved.

Among the issues pinpointed by the report was the university’s overspending and an excessively inflated wage structure.

In 2020, the institution’s Remunerations Committee—then chaired by current Ministry of Finance Principal Secretary Vusi Dlamini -uncovered rampant overspending, bloated salaries and unchecked allowances across the institution’s payroll.

The committee had been assigned by the former Chairman of Council, Prince David, to review the terms and conditions of service for the institution’s executives in light of financial and cash flow challenges.

Despite its warnings and recommendations, the report, intended as a blueprint for urgent reform, was quietly sidelined and its findings disregarded.

Today, the university’s financial health has unravelled to the extent that it has been forced to close its doors for over a month due to unpaid bills and mounting debt.

UNESWA Council Chairman Chief Prince Mkhumbi told the Muzi Siyaya-led task team a fortnight ago that there was an officer reportedly earning more than the prime minister, whose gross monthly salary stands at E81 892.64.

The task team, appointed by Minister of Education and Training Owen Nxumalo, is currently probing issues affecting the university.

Two weeks ago, the team conducted its initial submissions, which included testimonies from Council Chairman Prince Mkhumbi and Vice Chancellor Justice Thwala.
The subsequent round of submissions, however, has not been made public, unlike the initial disclosures.

While the council chairman did not name the officer, one of the 2022 report’s most striking findings was the inflated salary of the Vice Chancellor, Justice Thwala, who, it reported, was earning nearly three times the prime minister’s remuneration, with a gross monthly salary of around E210 834.25.

Additionally, the vice chancellor’s allowances include E10 500, covering E2 500 for a cellphone, E400 for water, E600 for electricity, E4 000 for security and E1 500 each for a gardener and a maid.

According to the Public Enterprises Unit (PEU) Act, a position at the vice chancellor level should not exceed a monthly pay limit of E108 333.33, meaning Thwala’s pay package, when aligned with the prescribed PEU guidelines, exceeds the maximum limit by over E100 000 each month.

Questioned about how the executive of a parastatal could be earning well above the limits stipulated by law, Public Enterprise Unit Director Busangani Mkhaliphi stated she was unaware of the report and, therefore, could not comment on its contents.

Renumeration
Mkhaliphi courteously suggested contacting the current Ministry of Finance Principal Secretary, Vusi Dlamini, who chaired the remuneration committee at the time.

The report further noted that Thwala’s basic salary surpasses that of a senior professor at the university by E54 000 per month, amounting to an average of at least E650 000 per annum.

“While it is expected that executives of an institution should be paid more than the rest of the staff, it is equally expected that these margins should be reasonable and cost-effective, providing an incentive good enough to attract individuals into leadership positions,” reads a segment of the report.

The report notes that the vice chancellor is not alone in benefiting from inflated pay. Other top executives, including the bursar, registrar, two pro-vice chancellors and the CEO of the university’s foundation, also receive salaries exceeding the PEU-prescribed maximum by at least E400 000 per month.

Together, these excesses amount to an annual overspend of more than E5 million, meaning that aligning executive salaries with PEU guidelines could save the institution at least E5 million each year, solely from trimming top-tier pay packages.

The report also condemned the unauthorised implementation of a salary review in 2016, which was conducted without the required written approval from the responsible minister, as mandated by the PEU Act.

The Act explicitly prohibits any Category A public enterprise from making substantial adjustments to staff salary levels, wage structures, or terms of service without formal ministerial approval in consultation with the standing committee.

This breach, the report suggests, reflects a broader disregard for regulatory oversight that has exacerbated the institution’s financial woes.

Another issue brought to light by the report was that UNESWA’s non-academic staff count has swelled to 490, surpassing the academic staff count of 438.

This trend, the committee observed, revealed a serious misallocation of resources in a university whose primary focus should be academic advancement.

The staff-to-student ratio has become increasingly skewed, inflating the institution’s wage bill while contributing little to its academic output.

The investigation by PS Dlamini and his team also uncovered severe budgetary inconsistencies, including an inducement allowance of 10 per cent paid across all salary bands, a car allowance constituting 25 per cent of basic salary, and extensive housing and domestic staff allowances for senior officers.

Originally designed to make high-level roles more attractive, these perks had reportedly grown into an unsustainable financial drain.

Allowances
The committee recommended that inducement allowances be halved and that housing and car allowances be capped to help alleviate the financial strain.

The report further highlighted that the university’s financial dysfunction extended beyond high salaries and lavish perks, with poor management of staff welfare emerging as a key issue.
Staff complaints over unpaid loan deductions, which led to a prolonged two-month strike in 2022, exposed serious mismanagement within the university’s financial department.

The institution had failed to remit loan repayments deducted from employees’ salaries, leading to repossessions by banks and damaging staff morale.

Additionally, pension contributions were not consistently paid, putting employees’ long-term security at risk.

The committee called for a complete overhaul of the university’s salary deduction and remittance processes, demanding accountability from those managing these funds.

It argued that the financial and reputational cost of failing to address these issues has been substantial, with the university losing significant public trust.

The committee also uncovered deficiencies in the university’s revenue collection and financial oversight, particularly in departments generating their own income.

It found that some departments were bypassing the bursar’s office, retaining revenue and failing to contribute to the university’s overall budget.

Revenue
“This practice has continued unchecked, with revenue from self-funding departments not being remitted to central financial oversight, undermining the university’s financial stability,” reads another part of the report.

This decentralisation of revenue handling has allowed certain departments to function as independent entities, leading to financial inconsistencies and opaque spending.

The recommendation, therefore, was to implement a centralised revenue management system and introduce stronger financial controls across all departments, particularly in self-funding areas, to restore financial discipline and ensure transparent fund flow within the institution.

When asked about the report, its findings, and the implementation of its recommendations, UNESWA Council Chairman Prince Mkhumbi stated that, although he had heard of the report informally, he had never seen it, as it had not been tabled during his tenure.

He noted that by the time of his appointment, even the current Ministry of Finance Principal Secretary, (Vusi Dlamini), was no longer serving in the council.

Financial management and governance are one of the identified key areas for reform for the task team, expected to carry out its six-month mandate with a budget of E500 000.

During a recent media briefing, Siyaya acknowledged the enormity of the challenge, disclosing that the team was currently in the process of conducting a desk review of strategic documents, with internal and external stakeholder consultations set to follow.

He promised that their preliminary findings would be presented to Cabinet in December, with a final report due in March 2025.

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