REMOVE SEC MD - WORKERS

MBABANE – SESMAWU last week petitioned SEC’s Chairman of the Board of Directors S’thofeni Ginindza last week to remove the Managing Director, Meshack Kunene.

SESMAWU is an acronym for the Swaziland Electricity Supply Maintenance and Allied Workers Union while SEC stands for the Swaziland Electricty Company. The union wants Ginindza to replace the MD with a more considerable candidate who will have full interest of the organisation at heart and energy to control the entire Executive management. “We request your office to urgently address the matter in 14 days and a forensic audit should commence soon,” reads the petition. The workers claimed that they were frustrated by the MD’s actions as his conduct had caused great conflict, lack of commitment in doing work, demotivation and a hostile environment to work at the parastatal. The petition contains eight allegations against the MD, which he is yet to respond to as he said he had not received it. The union requested the chairman to facilitate a comprehensive forensic audit in the organisation where many revelations would allegedly be uncovered.

They complained about the Allowance Policy which states that an acting allowance will not be paid to a higher ranking officer who acts in the position of a junior officer for less than 30 days. SESMAWU called for a forensic weigh scale into the Legal Department. Some of the allegations against the MD will not be repeated as the boad of directors is yet to respond. SESMAWU also reported Kunene to the chairman of the Board of Directors for allegedly allowing his executive management to flout the organisation’s policies. “Are we in an animal farm or what, where other people are allowed to break policies and others are not?” reads the petition in part. Kunene, in an interview, said he was not aware of the petition as the union had not informed him about it. He said ordinarily the union should have told him that it would petition him and informed him of its grievances. He said the union could have also forwarded its grievances to him and then petition him in the event he failed to act on them.

The petition states that Kunene never made time to see the union as stakeholders of the organisation. It also states that each time it wanted to see him, it had to force its way into his office only to be given 10 minutes at most as the MD would tell members that he was in a rush. When asked about this, Kunene said: “There is nothing I can say about that as I have to speak to the union first.” Kunene added that he could not comment because he had not seen the petition. He said he would only comment after seeing it and speaking to the Board of directors. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy Principal Secretary, Winnie Stewart, when asked about the petition, said she was not aware of it. Stewart asked to be sent a text which she said she would respond to today after consulting her ministry’s legal advisors. The petition was also sent to the Minister of Natural Resources and Energy, Jabulile Mashwama, Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) President and Secretary General, Southern African Energy Network, Industrial Global Union, and the Speaker of the House of Assembly. The Chairman of the Board of Directors could not be reached for comment as his mobile phone was off. Minister Mashwama’s phone was also off and could not be reached for comment.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: