BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – The Senate has approved a Supplementary Budget of E58 million.
The approval happened on March 5, 2025 at Senate. The Supplementary Budget is for the year ending on March 31, 2025. The aim of this budget, according Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg, is to cater for the needs of the government for the remainder of the current financial year, which is supposed to end on March 31, 2025.
Rijkenberg told the senators that the government had faced hardship on the cash flow, as it did not have enough money to cater for its needs. The minister thanked the senators for taking their time to approve the Supplementary Budget. He said the budget was approved after the senators debated the budget, before they were informed on its importance during a workshop.
Senate President Lindiwe Dlamini thanked Minister Rijkenberg for having been able to work on the Supplementary Budget from the time it was tabled in the upper chamber. Dlamini said the budget was of an amount that was not so substantial because it had to cater for needs for the remainder of the current financial year.
Dlamini further expressed gratitude to her fellow senators, stating that they took their time indeed, to scrutinise the Supplementary Budget. “From the time the minister tabled the Supplementary Budget, you made it clear from the onset that you wanted to thoroughly scrutinise the budget,” Dlamini said.
The Senate president further mentioned that the senators had time to debate the budget and a workshop was organised for them to understand it more. What also impressed Dlamini was that senators were very much inquisitive on the Supplementary Budget. She said they asked many pertinent and relevant questions on the budget during the workshop.
Rijkenberg also expressed gratitude to Dlamini for having been able to lead and guide the chamber during this exercise. He believed it was also because of her wisdom in leading the chamber that it was able to reach this milestone.
