Swazi Observer

FULL STORY

E26M STUDY LOANS PAID STRAIGHT INTO GOVT BANK ACCOUNT - PS

By Lungelo Nkambule | 2018-03-22

Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security Thulani Mkhaliphi has come out to clear the air with regards to the financial aspect of the Study Loans Recovery Consortium.

Addresing concerns raised regarding the bank account in which beneficiaries were depositing their repayment funds for the study loans, the principal secretary explained that signatories of the account were government officials as it belonged to government not the consortium.

Some members of the public held the view that the money sat in an account that either belonged to the consortium itself or the lead consultant Sdumo Mdladla.

They further inferred that whosoever owned the account where the funds were deposited, was indirectly benefiting from the interest that accrued.

A report from the ministry of labour tabled in parliament recently indicated that to date over E26 million has been collected from study loans beneficiaries.

The money was collected from over 10 000 beneficiaries.

However, Mkhaliphi clarified this yesterday at a press briefing where he joined the consortium when presenting its progress report thus far at City Court.

“To give a brief background on the subject, sometime back we had an account held with FNB where beneficiaries deposited their study loans repayment funds. However, when we launched the consortium we decided to start on a clean slate,’’ said Mkhaliphi when addressing journalists.

He said before the start of the process by the consortuim, government had an existing account at the First National Bank which people used to repay their loans but a new account was opened with Standard Bank when the consortium came on board to allow a new beginning.

He said those who were already paying back the loans before September were made aware of this new development, hence they now use the Standard Bank account.

Mkhaliphi said beneficiaries shouldn’t worry that their money was going into a personal account as the Standard Bank account belonged to government.

“This is strictly a government owned bank account and it has nothing to do with the consortium. Even signatories to the account are strictly the authorised persons from government. No one from the consortium is a signatory,’’ explained Mkhaliphi.

He further explained that the bank account was more of a one way street, so to speak.

“I must say that this account operates in its own unique way. It is very easy to deposit the money into it but very difficult to get it out because it is such an involved process. Besides that, one has to do a lot of motivation before accessing money deposited into this account,’’ stated the PS.

He further clarified how the consortium was paid for its work of collecting the study loans.

“I am sure that some people think the consortium pays itself from the collected funds. Things don’t work like that. They are not even paid from the money they collect. The consortium is paid the same way other people who have contracts or engaged by government for various jobs are. They are paid monthly and not from what they have collected,’’ he said.

Mkhaliphi emphasised that the money collected from beneficiaries is not easily accessible and, therefore, chances of it being misused were slim.

share story