Swazi minister admits that customs corruption is rife

MBABANE – Swaziland foreign minister Majozi Sithole told Parliament last week that corruption was so rife amongst Swazi customs officials and their collaborators in the private sector that the country was losing an untold amount of tax revenue, potentially affecting the country’s development. “The blame is mostly a mixture, because some companies under-declare their goods with the help of officials at the borders,” Sithole told MPs. Road transport firms were not mentioned by the minister. He named no offending companies specifically, but the drift of his remarks is that companies and private individuals are cheating government out of customs duty revenue in collusion with customs workers at the border, rather than road transport firms and courier services hauling the goods of others. Sithole made his remarks during parliamentary debate of a Revenue Authorities Act, which government says it needs to collect customs tax, income tax and other taxes more efficiently. Swazis and foreign businesses in the country have made a habit of dodging taxes, with Sithole calculating that government collects only 20% of tax revenue due to it. “Some companies falsify the records of the profits they are making, hence cheating government out of the tax they are supposed to be paying,” Sithole said. The ministry has yet to calculate the total losses, Sithole said. He has previously said that the cost of government corruption on an annual basis exceeds the sum of the national debt.