MBABANE:Bongiwe Nonhlanhla Mabuza is a Limkokwing University Creative Multimedia graduate but, now working in the textile industry amid scarcity of jobs in the poverty stricken eSwatini, a tiny Kingdom ruled by King Mswati as an absolute Monarch.
Despite being employed by the low paying textile manufacturing industry, Mabuza is among thousands of University graduates ‘hunted’ by the eSwatini Government in demand for payment under the Scholarship Recovery Fund.
Newly inaugurated Namibian President Her Excellency Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah recently announced free University education but, emaSwati and/or taxpayers in the tiny Kingdom situated in Southern Africa, are forced to repay scholarships awarded to them by the Government.
Acting Government Spokesperson Thabile Mdluli declined to comment about the matter.
Lawyers from the reputable SV Mdladla and Associates, contracted by the Government to recover the scholarship loans, served Mabuza with a letter of demand, directing her to pay the loan amounting to over one hundred thousand Rands(R100,000.00) and, due to her financial struggles, “she is paying two hundred Rands(R200.00) per-month and, might as a result, spend the next 100 years paying the scholarship loan.
“As you can see in the statement, I am paying R200.00 per-month,” she said.
Eswatini is facing scarcity of jobs and some graduates who are now employed in the textile industry are forced to pay tax while servicing the scholarship loans.
Reached for comments by this Swaziland News on Friday morning, Wandile Dludlu, a University law student and Deputy President of the People’s United Democratic Movement(PUDEMO) described the “salary deductions from graduates who are textile workers, as illegal and unreasonable adding that, textile workers are not earning living wages” that justify such deductions.
“Working in the textile industry is like an informal kind of work, the salaries are not what we call a living wage. So you can’t deduct from a person who doesn’t earn a living wage,” said the PUDEMO Deputy President.
Eswatini media graduate Bongiwe Nonhlanhla Mabuza(pic: supplied).