WARNING TO TEACHERS

MBABANE – Dare try us! This is a subtle warning to teachers who intend to abscond work and deliver petitions in Mbabane to three ministries and the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS).

The ministries are that of Public Service, Labour and Social Security and Education and Training.

The delivery of petitions shall be done by the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU), National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU) and National Union of Swaziland Higher Institutions (NAWUSHI).

Wrath

Minister of Education and Training Lady Mabuza said teachers would feel government’s wrath during their November payday. Mabuza was responding to a question on the decision by teachers to miss work on Thursday.

She said teachers were being fooled by the fact that the no-work, no-pay rule was not effected during the end of the current month. The minister said government only effected the no-work, no-pay rule to the executive members of SNAT only.

She said at the end of next month, the teachers would feel the pinch. The minister minced no words, as she said teachers would not be let off-the-hook as the ministry had not given them permission.
 “We will also make deductions including for the ‘Teachers Day’ where some teachers decided to join the celebration and miss school, yet there was no agreement,” she said.

Absenting

Mabuza said by absenting themselves on Thursday, the teachers would be adding on to the other days of being absent from school.
“It is third term and teachers should be focusing on preparing examinations instead of delivering petitions.”
She said the pupils needed to make good use of the time as teachers were not keen on being at their workstations.

Secretary General of SNAT Sikelela Dlamini said they were not bothered. He said they anticipated the no-work, no-pay rule and that they were practising their constitutional right to demand what was rightfully theirs.

He said they were not expecting any teacher to be at school on Thursday. Dlamini said in light of their planned activity, it was prudent that parents kept pupils at home as they would be wasting their resources if they let their children go to school.
He said this was because there would be no teacher in schools to render any service.

Petition

The abandoning of classes to petition government shall happen almost two weeks after a verbal showdown between government and teachers.
The Ministry of Education and Training reminded all teachers that the day they sought (a forth night ago) was a normal working day. As a result, the ministry expected all teachers and pupils to be at school and observe their normal working hours.

This was through a public notice issued by the ministry’s Principal Secretary Bertram Stewart yesterday.
Worth noting is that the ministry and SNAT have not been seeing eye-to-eye in recent weeks as teachers abandoned classes since late-August.

During this period, the teachers, who partnered with other civil servants, had regular meetings to galvanise their members to partake in an industrial action that was held from September 23 – October 2, 2019. Civil servants were demanding that government pay them a 7.85 per cent cost-of-living- adjustment (CoLA).

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