Times Of Swaziland: SOME SNAT MEMBERS: MBONGWA’S DISMISSAL JUSTIFIED

SOME SNAT MEMBERS: MBONGWA’S DISMISSAL JUSTIFIED
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Themba Zwane on 12/09/2023 08:58:00


PIGG’S PEAK – Some members of SNAT are going against the grain of their
executive committee by insisting that the dismissal of the union’s President,
Mbongwa Dlamini, is justified.
A group of teachers, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of
victimisation, said the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) must
stop insulting teachers by sanitising the expulsion of Dlamini. A representative
from the group said they felt insulted by the use of their money to pay the
president at the time when government had frozen his salary last year, allegedly
without their consent. “They took our money and paid Mbongwa when government
had frozen his salary, without our consent, and they came to report this long
after it had been done, during a mass meeting in May,” alleged the member. He
accused the SNAT executive committee of not respecting members and taking them
for granted.
Ethic
“Mbongwa clashed with his superiors, which speaks volumes about his work
ethic,” he said. The member said in every workplace, when one needed to leave,
even for an important meeting, they were required to report to their immediate
supervisors before leaving. He said Dlamini was not the first SNAT member to
hold the president position, as others who came before him always asked for
permission before going away from their workplaces. He said interestingly, some
of the previous presidents were head teachers, but stuck to the rules.
“The Teaching Service Commission (TSC) would not have fired Dlamini if he had
reported to his immediate supervisor before leaving for meetings. As a group of
SNAT members, we are totally against sympathising with him,” said the teacher.
The source further mentioned that what infuriated them was that SNAT had
deviated from its mandate. “All we want is to see working conditions improve.
We want improved salary increment, housing allowance and other essentials.
However, instead of helping teachers achieve this, SNAT is now focused on a
political agenda,” he said. The group representative said the SNAT executive
must, therefore, not include them in their alleged political agenda. He said
SNAT was no longer a trade union, but a political organisation. They then said
they would not attend the mass meeting called by the union, because the agenda
would stray to politics, but wanted to attend a mass meeting where teachers’
welfare would be discussed. He added that SNAT members were disappointed with
the current executive. He said SNAT was better off  being led by a head teacher
and not youthful ones with political agendas. Asked if they had formally raised
the concern with SNAT, the group said the executive had been informed about the
matter. He alleged that they were informed that politics could not be separated
from SNAT issues, because even if they wanted to address bread and butter
issues, the political environment must be conducive.
Meanwhile, in a letter dated August 29, 2023, the TSC, through the Executive
Secretary, Nhlanhla Dlamini, revealed that following the disciplinary hearing,
wherein Dlamini was found guilty and the subsequent invitation that was extended
to him and his legal representatives to appear before the commission and
represent mitigating circumstances or factors for consideration by the
commission, before it decided on an appropriate sanction, it had since arrived
at a  unanimous decision to expel him. “It is pertinent to place before
yourself that in the presence of your legal representative, when you were
requested to make mitigating submissions, you and your duly appointed legal
representative refused to tender any mitigation and both of you opted to walk
out of the disciplinary hearing after hurling insults and threats at the
Teaching Service Commission. “Having mentioned the above, the commission
brings to your attention that after your disrespectful departure, the initiator
duly represented by the Office of the Attorney General proceeded to submit
aggravating submissions,” read the letter in part.
The commission’s executive secretary further revealed, through the letter,
that among the many submissions that were made, the initiator submitted that the
109 days of absenteeism from duty as a teacher by the accused, amounted to gross
misconduct, which remained unmitigated to this day. The TSC said the accused
never explained his absence from duty to his head teacher on the occasions on
which he resurfaced and he also received his salary for no work throughout his
absenteeism.