STATEMENT ON PSAS STRIKE ACTION

Sir,

Business Eswatini came out with a quarter page paid advert in this publication on January 24, 2019, on the PSAs’ proposed strike action and went the distance on the impact on the economy etc.

I find it interesting that there is no mention of all the other issues that the labour organisations have been pointing to as a usage of public funds that was not beneficial to the nation and worse so at this stage - and government never heeded nor did Business Eswatini say a thing then and now about those issues.
To come now with all those ‘wise words’ so late in the day and still be selective on who you caution in such a public manner when you were silent on Big Brother is moot.

Responsible

To remind us that the new government is not responsible for the current economic crisis is not quite helpful when we have not heard them being as public as they are to the PSAs, to the previous government that engaged in splashing funds on projects that were not beneficial to the country.

I believe that in leadership, silence, when things go so wrong right in front of your eyes, is not being quiet but it borders on being complicit. Bebakuphi konkhe loku sebachamuka nyalo ngemandla.

As an expert organisation on the wise usage of taxpayers’ funds, I expected them to have long cautioned the irony of ironies for a government that had a tight cash flow situation against leaving the High Court where they paid no rent and go to rent at the newly-built and obviously not cheap Madlenya House.
Do they see any economic sense in that or are they quiet for certain reasons much against their knowledge and are only concerned when workers strike to say ‘let us get something to be able to live by’.

Negotiating

Because that is all the workers are calling for really. Despite that the party they are negotiating with was never cautioned by Business Eswatini when it splashed money (it supposedly does not have) on all the activities it spent on and will do so even now in the Buganu season, most businesspeople and organisations only speak in muted tones.

One believes that what is needed in the country is an honest dialogue by the major stakeholders as regards where the cuts need to be applied and there be no sacred cows. Don’t call organised labour for an honest dialogue only when we are in crisis point. This has to be an ongoing results-oriented process, not one just to be seen to be talking.

Vincent V Ncongwane

NOTE:
In an effort to afford Business Eswatini the Right to Reply, this letter was emailed to them on January 29, 2019, and a follow-up call was made. However, to this day there has been no response.

Ed

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