WHAT E2.1M FOR CJ’S CAR CAN DO

MBABANE – About 900 000 high blood pressure drugs can be bought with the E2.1 million that government will use to purchase sleek wheels for the chief justice.

This amount of money could also pay annual salaries of about 12 nurses.
As government preaches the belt-tightening message to civil servants, the workers are concerned about their employer’s apparently flamboyant spending.
Our sister publication, the Times SUNDAY, reported that government was purchasing a E2.1 million car for the Chief Justice, Bheki Maphalala. The publication reported that unions called for the CJ not to accept the car to show that government had no money. They were also concerned that government would also purchase a car for Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini as part of his retirement package.

What worried the civil servants was that government halted major projects and continued to offer them a zero per cent Cost of living adjustment (CoLA). They believed that the money for purchasing the vehicles could be channelled towards other projects.
The publication reported that Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) President Bheki Mamba said their members were working under a lot of strain due to that there were unfilled vacancies.

The Ministry of Health has been hit by demonstrations from nurses throughout the week due to the unavailability of working equipment and shortage of drugs. Some of the lacking equipment and drugs are the IV cannular which costs about E2.62 and the HCT2 High Blood Pressure drugs which cost about E2.30 according to Indiamart. This means that government can purchase about 801 526 of the equipment and 913 043 of the drugs.
annually

With E2.1 million, government could hire about 12 nurses and pay their annual salaries. This is based on that nurses are paid at grade C5, according to the Government Establishment Register 2018/2019. A nurse under this grade is paid E167 543 annually which translates to a monthly salary of about E13 961.91. This would be the same as Secondary teachers who are also in the same pay grade.

Free primary education (FPE), retiring teachers, teachers dying and the national elections are just some of the things that contributed to the education sector having vacancies in schools. Primary school teachers are paid at grade C3, which sets their annual salary at E115 520. This means that about 18 teachers can be hired and paid for a whole year if E2.1 million could be channelled towards that.

In a bid to ensure universal education, government introduced free primary education (FPE), which is partially funded by the European Union. Government pays about E960 per pupil annually. With E2.1 million, government can pay for up to 2 187 pupils for the whole year. This would benefit the pupils, their schools and by extension, support staff who are paid through FPE funds by the learning institutions.

channelled

With the inflation rate on the rise and the number of people in need of elderly grants increasing daily, E2.1 million could also come in handy. Currently, the elderly in the country receive E400 monthly from government. With the millions channelled towards the purchase of the CJ’s car, about 5 250 elderly people could benefit.

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