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MARKERS TO TAKE ECESWA, MINISTRY TO COURT

17/11/2018 08:37:00 BY SIBUSISO ZWANE

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Some of the SNAT NEC members, who delivered the report to the markers, captured singing Nkosi sikelela i-Africa to mark the end of their meeting yesterday. (L-R) Organising Secretary Mlondi Dlamini, Secretary General Sikelela Dlamini, President Mbongwa Dl

MANZINI – The Examination Council of Eswatini (ECESWA) can heave a sigh of relief but it could be short-lived.

This is more so because external examination markers will be in their respective marking centres on Monday carrying out their duties, but it will not be business as usual as the makers resolved to take both ECESWA and the Ministry of Education and Training to court through SNAT.

This resolution was taken during the markers’ meeting, which was held under the banner of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) at the SNAT Centre yesterday. The decision was taken after the SNAT national executive committee (NEC) delivered a report about their meeting with ECESWA over the markers’ 11 demands.

SNAT, through the NEC which was led by the President Mbongwa Dlamini and Secretary General Sikelela Dlamini, agreed to do all it could to ensure that no agent exploited teachers, especially those whom they were legally bound to engage in talks with on behalf of educators.
The resolution was that all markers should report to their respective marking centres on Monday and carry out their duties.

dealing

However, the SNAT NEC said since they would be dealing with the legal issues with their lawyers, they would from time to time call them to a meeting at SNAT Centre to update them on any developments.

“When we call a meeting, we expect all markers to attend without fail,” the NEC said, and the markers had promised to do as the letters from the union stated.
However, they wanted assurance from the NEC that every time they were called to a meeting, a correspondence would be sent to the ECESWA Registrar’s office and the response was to the affirmative.

In fact the NEC said they would send the correspondence to the registrar’s office and further invite the council to the meeting because there would be nothing confidential.
On the same note, the SNAT President, Mbongwa Dlamini, told the markers that even when the rest of teachers and other public sector associations (PSAs) would have activities in their fight for the cost of living adjustment (CoLA), they were expected to also attend without fail.
demanding
He said the 6.55 per cent they were demanding from government as CoLA for the 2018/19 financial year was for all civil servants, including the markers, so if they had an activity, they should participate as they would benefit.
The markers reached the above decision after the NEC told them that during their meeting with ECESWA, which was held on Monday, the council said it would only engage the individual markers as they signed contracts individually.
Furthermore, the leaders of the teachers’ union said they tried to reason with the council but in vain, and as a result, they decided to leave the meeting before they could table the issues.
Thereafter, the union leaders said they went to seek legal opinion about the developments and the legal eagles told them that in terms of the contract offered to the markers, ECESWA was referred to as an employer. They said the lawyers told them this was because the two parties had entered into an employment relationship, even though it was not conclusive.
Again, they said the attorneys told them that the markers were regarded as employees because they were required to report to the immediate supervisor, adhere to certain behavioural standards set by ECESWA and be on time.
They said the markers would be paid according to a fixed rate for the volume of work done (total scripts marked) and could be disciplined for misconduct.
“The legal eagles also said as SNAT we were entitled to represent our members with their employer on issues of mutual concern as that is our core business,” the NEC said.
recognition
On that note, the NEC said ECESWA was a division of the Ministry of Education and Training, which they had a recognition agreement with. They said this meant that the union was a legally bound to represent or negotiate on behalf of teachers with ECESWA, as it was division of the Ministry of Education and Training.
“The lawyers also told us that if ECESWA persist in its stance to refuse that we represent the markers, they recommended that we should take both the council and the ministry to court to enforce our right,” the NEC said to the markers.
Again, the union leaders added that signing contracts did not tie them to it.
They said it depended if the contract does not deviate from the Industrial Act of 2000, as amended, because if it does, it means the agreement is null and void.
demands
The markers held a meeting at SNAT Centre on November 1, 2018 and they came up with 11 demands which ECESWA should address before the council could get assurance that they would mark this year’s external examinations’ scripts.
Meanwhile, efforts of getting a comment from ECESWA Registrar Dr Edmund Mazibuko proved futile as his mobile phone was not available on the Eswatini MTN network for the better part of yesterday. The last call was made at 7:11pm. However, in his previous comment, the registrar said the council did not have plan B, as markers had signed contracts, which meant that they would mark the external examination scripts.