LECTURERS, STUDENTS, STAFF STRIKE ‘SHUTS DOWN’ UNESWA

MATSAPHA - History was rewritten at UNESWA as for the first time, lecturers, non-academic staff members and students went on strike and put Kwaluseni Campus on lockdown.

This took place yesterday and it lasted the whole day. As a result, the University of Eswatini (UNESWA) administration had to inform the students who were supposed to write their examination papers between 9am and noon, together with those who were expected to sit for their different papers from 2pm to 5pm, that their exams had been postponed indefinitely. It is worth noting that Kwaluseni Campus houses the head offices of the institution, which strives to be the university of choice in Africa.

Assembled

At around 8am, members of the Association of Lecturers, Academic and Administrative Personnel (ALAAP) who are demanding cost-of-living adjustment (CoLA) for 2018/19 and 2019/20, assembled at the campus’s main gate, where they found police officers who prevented them from locking out students who were going in and out of the institution. This was because some had come to write their examination papers, while others would go there to study in preparation for the exams. Collectively, the lecturers and non-academic staff members are demanding 14 per cent CoLA for the aforesaid two financial years as for 2018/19, their demand is 8.6 per cent, while for 2019/20 they pegged it at 5.4 per cent. On the other hand, the institution tabled zero per cent as a counter offer and they reached a deadlock.

The matter went to the Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration Commission (CMAC), where a certificate of unresolved dispute was issued, which was used by the trade union to conduct a balloting process for or against the strike action. A majority of its members voted for the strike. At the university’s main gate, the members of ALAAP locked the gates used by motorists, which meant that no car went inside or outside the institution. Therefore, students and staff members had to use the pedestrians’ gate. As a result, they left their cars outside the campus and due to lack of parking, some parked on private plots and along the main road.

At 9am, when the students who were supposed to write their examination papers arrived at the examination rooms, through a memorandum, they were told that their exams had been postponed. According to the affected students, the memorandum said they would be informed in due course on when they would write their examination papers.

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