Times Of Swaziland: ELECTIONS: EMPLOYERS NOT FORCED TO GRANT LEAVE OF ABSENCE

ELECTIONS: EMPLOYERS NOT FORCED TO GRANT LEAVE OF ABSENCE
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Nonduduzo Kunene on 17/08/2023 11:23:00


MBABANE – Employers are not forced to grant their employees, who are running
for public office, leave of absence unless they win the elections.
For years, it had been a norm that once a person was nominated in the general
elections exercise, that person would be given some time off work. The leave of
absence was confused with Section 33 1(e) of the 2023 Elections Act of 2013.
This piece of legislation, under declaration of candidate duly nominated for
elections, listed the documents that needed to be submitted by the nominee in
order for the nomination to be valid. Among the documents is a consent letter
from the employer, in the case of a public officer. However, even employers in
the private sector had been seen submitting these letters. Subsection 6 of the
same Act states that the employer shall cancel the consent letter required under
Section 33 (e), where the public officer is not successful in the election and
such cancellation of leave of absence shall have effect from the date of losing
the elections. This refers to people who were nominated for the positions of
bucopho, indvuna yenkhundla and Member of Parliament (MP).
The Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) Legal Advisor Principal Crown
Counsel Mbuso Dlamini, explained in details the leave of absence that is
referred to by the Elections Act of 2013, as well as the Constitution of the
Kingdom of Eswatini. The legal advisor, during a meeting that was held by EBC
with chiefs in the Manzini Region, explained that there shouldn’t be any
employee, who would have been granted leave of absence during the current stages
of the elections. He explained that the letter of consent from an employer
shouldn’t be confused with permission for leave of absence, while the
elections were ongoing.
He went on to clarify that for employees, such as civil servants, who were
running for the 2023 General Elections, their leave of absence applied once
Parliament is in office. “There is no Parliament now, therefore, all employees
who are candidates in the upcoming elections are expected to be at work. The
leave of absence aspect of the letters they were granted by their employers will
only kick-in once the candidate wins the elections and authorities announce the
commencement of Parliament,” he said. Dlamini added that the letters of
consent from employers, for now, were only used as proof, to show that the
officer was following the procedure in terms of participation. He also cited
Section 95, which clearly stipulates that the leave of absence should be for the
duration of Parliament. Subsection 1 (c) of the Constitution, under
disqualifications, apply to a member of armed forces or holding or acting in any
public office, who has not been granted leave of absence for the duration of
Parliament.
Overall, it is up to the employer to excuse an employee to go and campaign among
other duties that particular employee would want to perform as he or she runs
for Parliament. Leave of absence only kicks-in once an employee wins the
elections and the authorities pronounce the commencement of Parliament. Worth
noting our sister publication Eswatini News published a story whereby all civil
servants had been ordered to be at work. In a letter that was sent by the
Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Public Service Sipho Tsabedze stated
that civil servants were not yet allowed to take leave of absence. Salaries of
employees who obtained their leave of absence are usually suspended and it had
been the norm in the past, but this year salaries had not been yet suspended as
they were expected to be at work.