NO MONEY FOR SALARY REVIEW, PSAS CALL MASS MEETING

MANZINI – Government might only have a budget to hire a consultant and not the implementation of the salary review for civil servants.

This was said by leaders of the public sector associations (PSAs) during a press briefing at the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) Centre. The press briefing was subsequent to the joint negotiation forum (JNF) sitting wherein the PSAs represented civil servants while the government negotiation team (GNT) represented the employer. According to the President of SNAT, Mbongwa Dlamini, their sitting in the JNF yielded nothing substantial. He said there was one item on the JNF agenda yesterday, which was the salary review.
Dlamini shared the background of the salary review that it was made an order of the court following the signing of a collective agreement in 2016 and ought to have been implemented in 2021. However, he said that did not happen.

Contempt

He said when the order of the court was to be implemented in April 2021; government said it could not do so. This, he said, led to the PSAs taking the matter to court as they believed it was contempt of court. Subsequent to this action, Dlamini said government requested that it be withdrawn so that negotiations could resume. “As we engaged today (yesterday) we got nothing. Government delivered nothing as it was clear that we are not a priority,” he said. The SNAT president said the response that they got from government insinuated that there might be a budget for seeking services of a consultant and not the implementation of the salary review. In essence, he said this meant that civil servants should pray that the budget for a consultant was made available and thereafter, they should hope that money would be allocated for the salary review in the 2024 financial year budget.

“They said there is no money now as government should fix roads and also deal with COVID-19,” he said. It is worth noting that in February 2021, government supposedly spent E85 million meant to reimburse civil servants, following appeals raised in the 2016 salary review exercise, on COVID-19-related needs. Dlamini said it was up to public servants on what to do next in order to get the salary review. He said this was because whatever they submitted in the JNF negotiations meant nothing. “The masses have the power to decide how government will act, (in our pursuit of the salary review),” he said.

The SNAT president said PSAs did not fear going to court, but wanted to pursue the legal route as a last resort. He said they were cognisant of the fact that there was nothing they could do after the court procedures. “We can pressure government though,” he added. Also, the President of the National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU), Oscar Nkambule, said it was clear that government did not take them seriously as civil servants. Testament to this, he said, was that the employer (government) was uncertain of whether the money to recruit a consultant for the salary review was available. “At this point, the ball is in your court, as we’ve done our part as leaders. Government does not take you seriously as all the challenges listed could have been dealt with,” Nkambule claimed. The NAPSAWU president said government could have raised the money to hire a consultant leading to 2021. He said it would be understandable if the challenge was how to finance the new rates.

Invitation

Nkambule reiterated his claims that civil servants should be aware that they were the least priority to their employer’s (government) list. With this, he extended an invitation to public servants to attend a mass meeting to decide the fate of civil servants on their quest for a salary review on February 26, 2022 and also to partake in activities that shall be outlined thereafter.
The sentiments by Nkambule and Dlamini were also shared by the Secretary General of the Swaziland National Association of Government Accounting Personnel (SNAGAP), Dumile Dlamini. When addressing civil servants, she said: “You shall give us a way forward as seemingly what is happening is done the opposite way.” Dumile said as things stood, there was a possibility that should other disasters strike, they would get nothing. He said it was due to this that they should attend the mass meeting scheduled for the aforementioned date.

On the other hand, Secretary General of the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU), Mayibongwe Masangane, said civil servants needed to forge a way forward. He said he was of the view that their employer had declared nothing towards cushioning their welfare, while they last received a cost-of-living adjustment (CoLA) of three per cent. The CoLA was offered in the 2020/21 financial year. The three per cent, he said, was minimal as they had spent three years without an offer. He said there was a high possibility that government’s pronouncement that they would be seeking a consultant was simply a means of buying time. “It is clear that there is a high possibility of a large chunk of the budget going to the security forces as there was an unrest,” Masangane said. He said as things were, payday was a stressful day for many civil servants given that their remuneration barely afforded them an opportunity to buy basic needs.

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