Times Of Swaziland: ELECTIONS OFFICERS THREATEN TO QUIT OVER PAY

ELECTIONS OFFICERS THREATEN TO QUIT OVER PAY
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Stanley Khumalo on 06/07/2023 15:43:00


MANZINI – A number of officers employed by the Elections and Boundaries
Commission (EBC) are threatening to resign following remuneration concerns.
Some of the officers who were recruited to be registration clerks, said they
were aggrieved by their remuneration as it was varied, despite that they were
all engaged in similar activities during the registration period. The officers
claimed that they had been recruited and rendered their services for two months
and were recently remunerated after the voter registration process had been
completed. They claimed that when being remunerated, some were paid E4 000,
other E6 900, while other E8 000. They said among them, others were offered E16
000 while the highest payment was E21 000.
The voter registration clerks, who engaged this publication, claimed that their
concerns were that when they were recruited, they were not advised on their
daily pay. Instead, they claimed that they were offered code of conduct letters,
which they had to sign, committing to engage their duties as per the
expectations of the EBC. They claimed that this happened when they were still in
training for the voter registration exercise, which started countrywide on May
10, 2023 and lapsed on June 18, 2023. This was after the voter registration
exercise was extended by four days. The concerns, among some of the clerks, were
that when they were recruited, their qualifications were not requested; instead
they were advised to submit their high school completion certificates.
Thereon, they claimed that they engaged in their duties in the 336 chiefdoms,
which were covered by 662 polling stations. During this period, the aggrieved
employees claimed that they worked seven days a week. They supposed that those
of them who were assigned in polling stations with high volume of people, such
as industrial sites and city centres, had to work from 8am-6pm, while those who
were in places with average people worked between 8am – 4pm.
Aggrieved
The aggrieved officers claimed that they sought an explanation from some of the
permanent staff of the EBC on how they could get to know the pay rate and they
were advised that Parliament was still discussing issues revolving around their
welfare. Later on, they claimed that they were advised to seek audience with the
office of the human resources manager. However, they alleged that during the
voter registration period, this was not feasible. Some of the aggrieved
personnel claimed that they later established that those with qualifications had
been advised to submit them. A source claimed that this happened towards the end
of the registration period. Subsequent to that, the source claimed that when
they enquired on how much they would earn, they were informed that they would
have to fill their timesheets.
The source claimed that they followed the advice of their supervisors and did
that still without knowing how much their remuneration would be. They claimed
that when they were remunerated, the salary was not what they had anticipated.
“We were paid on June 30, 2023 and when we received our salaries, we started
contacting each other as we were disappointed. This was when we learnt that we
were not paid the same amounts even if we had the same qualifications,” a
source said. The source claimed that after being remunerated, they sought
audience with the human resources manager. It was claimed that the HR was said
to have been busy and instead they were assigned another officer. The officer
reportedly informed the officials that they were paid based on their
qualifications using the current grading system used by government to remunerate
civil servants. This, they claimed, was a shock to them as it did not encompass
that they were not working under similar conditions as civil servants. They
claimed that they had not been able to relax from the inception of the voter
registration exercise until it was completed.
Qualifications
The sources further wondered how were they not remunerated with a similar scale
when possessing similar qualifications. It was supposed that there were those
who were diploma holders, who were paid similarly as those with a Form V
certificate while also among the degree holders, others were remunerated E16
000, while others were paid E21 000. The officers claimed that this meant that
for two months, some people were paid only E2 000 per month. They bemoaned that
the skills acquired by those who were paid E21 000 were not a prerequisite when
they were all recruited so that they would have known that their remuneration
would not be the same. The complaints by the voter registration officers follow
uproar over salaries related to the ongoing general elections within the Royal
Eswatini Police Service (REPS) as some officers were aggrieved.
The aggrieved police officers said their superiors in the various police
stations informed them that no officer should file a claim exceeding 27 days,
yet some of them worked throughout the registration exercise - which meant that
they provided security for 40 days. In the Kingdom of Eswatini, the general
elections for members of Parliament (MPs), constituency headmen (tindvuna
tetinkhundla) and chiefdom councillors (bucopho), are conducted by the Elections
and Boundaries Commission (EBC). During the various stages of the elections;
registration, validation of voters roll, nomination exercise, primary and
secondary elections, the commission engage members of the State security organs,
manly the police and His Majesty’s Correctional Services (HMCS) to provide
security and protect lives and property.
In terms of payment, a source close to the matter said it was agreed that they
would be paid less than E250 per day, which was an amount they received during
the 2018 general elections. The source said it was not clear how much exactly
the officers would be paid per day, but mentioned that it could be above the
E250. The source also said it was worth mentioning that not all the officers
worked 40 days as some of them were rotated within the police stations.
Therefore, the source said police officers who worked for 40 days were supposed
to be paid E11 500, while for the 27 days, which they should claim, they would
get E7 762.50. “This means that their pay will be less by E3 737.50 from what
they are supposed to be paid,” the source said. He said the officers viewed
this as daylight robbery, supposedly by the administration of the police
service.