On 01 August 2022, the World Customs Organization (WCO) announced that it had conducted an Integrity Diagnostic mission in Eswatini from 18 to 22 July 2022 to support the implementation of a robust anti-corruption and integrity development by the Eswatini Revenue Service (ERS). The mission was a follow-up to the recommendations of a scoping mission conducted by the Sida-WCO Trade Facilitation and Customs Modernization (Sida-WCO TFCM) Programme in June 2021, on the priority areas for implementing an effective integrity development programme in ERS.
As part of the mission objectives, the WCO team, comprising member experts from the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA), performed an organisational assessment of the ERS anti-corruption and integrity development initiatives using a comprehensive and detailed methodology in accordance with the WCO Revised Integrity Development Guide (RIDG) to assist ERS staff to assess their compliance with the requirements of the Revised Arusha Declaration on Integrity in Customs.
Several mid-level managers and officers from ERS, including legal, human resources, internal audit, IT, customs operations, and the communication department, contributed to the self-assessment exercise. This enabled the experts to offer advisory support to the ERS management based on the gaps identified, and a strategic road map for implementing an anti-corruption and integrity programme within ERS.
As part of their assessment of the integrity issue in their environment, the experts met with the Anti-Corruption Commission and private sector stakeholders. In order to examine the customs procedures, the WCO experts also visited the Ngwenya Border Post between South Africa and Eswatini.
Following that, a high-level meeting was held with the new Commissioner General of ERS, together with the Commissioner of Customs, Director of Internal Affairs and other members of the senior executive team to plan the future crafting of the integrity strategy for ERS.
The WCO mission was conducted under the auspices of the Sida-WCO TFCM Programme, with funding from the Government of Sweden.