MINISTER MABULALA: QUIT GOVT IF YOU WANT POLITICS

MBABANE - “Quit government if you want to join political parties.”

This was the stance taken by Minister of Public Service Mabulala Maseko when reprimanding civil servants about their engagements with political parties.
The minister was adamant that civil servants should quit government if they wanted to join political parties. Maseko said government General Standing Orders were clear that civil servants were not allowed to join political parties as such might result in them fighting the same government which they worked for.

Fighting

“If you are a civil servant, you are not allowed to join any political party because you may end up fighting the same government. How will those expecting service delivery trust you if you are known to be fighting government, which provides services to the nation? People will take it that you sabotage government if you fail to provide a service as you are known to be in politics. How can your employer trust you with any responsibility if you decide to join a political party? It will not be fair to fight government internally as a civil servant,” Maseko said.

Disrepute

He added that there was a likelihood that civil servants might put government into disrepute if they decided to work for political parties. Maseko further stated that people always asked where service delivery was if civil servants spent more time on the road.  The minister was interviewed following a statement to the effect that the ministry was not aware of the march that was scheduled for today by members of the public sector associations (PSAs).  Maseko said as far as the ministry was concerned, the Industrial Relations Act, Public Order Act and Government General Orders, were clear on how civil servants should address their concerns. He said government had opened a negotiation table where it expected to deliberate on issues affecting civil servants.

Worth noting is that civil servants had been, for a long time, negotiating for a cost-of-living adjustment (CoLA), which had resulted in a series of marches. “The law is clear when it comes to a march by civil servants. However, it should be said that marches should not be clouded with politics,” the minister said. Maseko said a lot had been discussed on the negotiation table. The minister warned civil servants against engaging in any unlawful marches. In vernacular, the minister said: ‘‘Nalo lilahle emhlane kulabo labatawutfolakala sebangenele umshuco longekho emtsetfweni (woe unto those who engage in illegal marches).” He said the ministry had noted with concern the accusations levelled against it by civil servants.

Accused

Maseko said the ministry had been accused of bashing unions in that civil servants were of the view that the ministry was destroying unions by allowing the formation of Eswatini Principals Association (EPA) while Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) existed. Maseko said the ministry found it important to have an association of principals as a standalone. “Government has been accused of outsourcing services yet such was aimed at improving service delivery,” he added. The minister made an example of the proposed formation of the Road Authority, stating that civil servants felt it was not a good idea to do away with the Roads Department in the Ministry of Public Works and Transport.

On the other hand, Maseko’s statement did not sit well with civil servants. Speaking in his capacity as Secretary General (SG) of SNAT, Sikelela Dlamini said there was a possibility that the minister was not aware of any correspondences between the civil servants and the ministry. This, Dlamini said, was because letters and notices were addressed to the PS. In the case of the proposed march which was scheduled for today, Dlamini said civil servants followed all the procedures provided for in the Industrial Relations Act of 2000, Public Order Act and the Government General Standing Orders.

“The ministry was notified about the march on December 6, 2021. We made it clear that the march was scheduled for December 15, 2021. I think the minister was seriously misguided. He must come out in the open on why the march was banned,” he added. On the issue of civil servant marches clouded with politics, Dlamini said they always made it a point that only civil servants participated in marches pertaining to their issues. He said for the minister to say civil servants were not allowed to engage in political affairs, was a nonsensical argument. Dlamini said all democratic countries embraced human rights such as the right to assemble, the right to association and speech, collective bargain among other rights.

“What we know is that it is illegal for any political formation to force people to join as this has to happen voluntarily. For example, as SNAT, we do not force people to join the association,” he said. The SNAT SG said not allowing civil servants to engage in politics meant that they were not human beings. He said that would also mean they did not have rights to enjoy as human beings. “This is an embarrassing analysis from the minister, how can a person of his caliber draw such a demarcation line. We believe as human beings, we are also political beings,” he said.

Dlamini stated that as civil servants, they always guarded against mixing work duties with political aspirations. He made an example that teachers were not expected to teach pupils politics in schools. “The minister should know that politics is everywhere. It exists at home, church, the workplace and everywhere,” Dlamini said.

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