NO SALARIES FOR SWAZISPA STAFF

MBABANE – The negative economic impact of COVID-19 has hit employees of the SwaziSpa Holdings Limited hard, as they will not be receiving their May and June, 2020 salaries.

For April they have been advised that they will only be paid 60 per cent of their salaries. The above is an equivalent of working three days per week.
According to a memo issued by Lance Rossouw, who is the General Manager of the Eswatini Operations, the company has found itself in an extremely difficult cash flow position and they had to manage the little cash resources very carefully.

SwaziSpa Holdings Limited is part of the Sun International Group.

Employment

The company stated that it did not have money at all to pay its employees from May 1, 2020 onwards and consequently, they were  applying to the Labour Commissioner for two months lay-off which would be effective from May 1 to  June 30, 2020. 
Rossouw, in the memo dated April 22, 2020 stated that the lockdown period had placed SwaziSpa in an unfortunate position of having to close their business entirely.  “This means that the business is not able to generate any revenue just before and during the lockdown,” reads the memo.

Rossouw stated that Payroll costs were their single biggest expense and consequently they had to also cut their salary bill in April.  “It is with a heavy heart that we can only pay 60 per cent of TCOE (total cost of employment) in April, with the exception of trying to help the lowest paid,” wrote Rossouw.

The management stated that they had discussions with the union and SASH on the matter and unfortunately, they had not reached an agreement.
“The company has applied to the Labour Commissioner for the release of E2 million bond for the security of wages so that we are able to pay our employees for the month of April,” he said.

He stated that the money was unfortunately not enough to cater for full pay of their salaries.  The employees were therefore advised that with effect from April 1, 2020 the TCOE payment made to each employee would be reduced to 60 per cent of each employee’s usual payment during this month.

Discussions

“Regrettably, the company does not have money at all to pay its employees from May 1, 2020 onwards; consequently, we are applying to the Labour Commissioner for two (2) months lay-off which will be effective from May 1, to June 30, 2020,” reads the memo.
It was a reported that following  a number of discussions and analysis, there was need to give clarity on some issues with regard to the TCOE. 

It was further stated that they had worked hard to reduce their costs and had received the support of most of their suppliers and service providers.
On tax issues, the company stated that all money paid by an employer to employees was subject to tax at the applicable rate.  “Your tax for the month of April 2020 will, however, be less than normal given the lower salaries,” reads the memo. 

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