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CRACKS WITHIN POLICE STAFF ASSOCIATION EXECUTIVE

03/11/2022 09:09:00 Sithembile Hlatshwayo

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MBABANE – Some executive members of the Royal Eswatini Police Service Staff Association have disassociated themselves from the utterances and actions of their Secretary General (SG), Sergeant Dumisile Khumalo.

This was according to some of the executive members of the association, who consist of the Chairperson Isaac ‘Kaira’ Lukhele, Deputy Chairperson Themba Gwebu and executive member Boy Boy Thwala. The trio stated that they felt that through her actions and utterances, Khumalo was now deviating from the mandate of the association, hence the need to call her to order and set the record straight. They highlighted that the association’s members were participating in marches, petition deliveries and meetings, without any mandate from the whole executive. The three members of the executive further pointed out that in these ‘unauthorised’ meetings, critical decisions were taken and subsequently implemented without their (executive of the staff association) endorsement or knowledge.

Petitions

Chairperson of the staff association, Lukhele said the marches and petitions delivery by some of the officers, were not part of their mandate as the Police Staff Association. Lukhele said their SG was in the habit of calling meetings without their endorsement, which was something they frowned upon. When asked whether they endorsed the recent mass meeting of junior officers, which was held at Caritas in Manzini where the SG participated, they succinctly stated that she was in a frolic of her own. “As an executive of the Police Staff Association, we never agreed on that meeting and the SG attended and participated without our knowledge,” said the chairman. This is the meeting where the junior officers reportedly said they were prepared to lose their jobs while fighting for Phase II of thei salary restructuring. The whole impasse emanates from a call by junior officers of the police service and His Majesty’s Correctional Services to government for the implementation of Phase II. Phase I was implemented where the senior personnel of both forces received their salary adjustment.

They also expressed their disapproval on Khumalo’s action of being part of the second march wherein the junior officers had intended to go to Cabinet to collect responses on their grievances, following the delivery of the petition. The chairman said the reason they did not partake in aforementioned march was because there was a court order interdicting them and they had to abide by it as law enforcers. However, he said despite the actions of the SG, they still had a duty to protect her and she was still their member, like any other affiliate. When asked on what disciplinary measures the staff association had taken or would take against the SG on her actions, they said they had on diverse occasions engaged her to express their discontent about the manner in which she was doing some of the things under the banner of the association.

Executive

Furthermore, they said the executive would meet next week, where they expected Khumalo to attend. The chairperson said it would be in this meeting where they would speak to the SG and explain to her the consequences of her actions. “The next step to be taken will depend on her response on whether she apologises or not,” said Lukhele. He said currently, Khumalo was facing a disciplinary case and there was a court order stopping the marches by junior officers. In all the aforementioned cases, Lukhele said they needed to protect her and the staff association. The chairperson pleaded with the association’s members to stop taking decisions without the mandate of the executive that had a duty to protect the members, including the SG. He pleaded with those who were allegedly making Khumalo to do the things that were outside the mandate of the association to spare her, so she could come and work jointly with the other executive members.

Lukhele mentioned that the challenge began with the Phase II issue, which was never implemented following the Phase I of Circular Number 2 of 2014. He stated that they were called by the Minister of Public Service, Mabulala Maseko, to deliberate on the matter, where a decision was taken that a consultant would be engaged to work on the issue of phase II. Lukhele said the minister said the consultant would work on the matter from the beginning of this month until October next year (12-month period) and compile a report to address the phase II. He added that the reason which was given by the minister for roping in the consultant was that the phase I had a lot of irregularities and required a scientific approach to address.

According to Lukhele, the minister assured them that there would be a special arrangement where the REPS and Correctional executive members would be called to submit to the consultant. This, he said, was to address the issue of the phase II. He said when they reported back to the mass membership, they did not accept this. According to Lukhele, about two weeks ago, they were called by the minister, who informed them that government, through the ministries of finance, Public Service and economic planning had decided to offer them four per cent. He stated that they were informed that the four per cent was a cushion and not part of the phase II. Lukhele said the intention was that while the consultant was working towards addressing the phase II, they had something to take home. The chairperson stated that the four per cent would be received by the superintendents through to the constables.

Monies

The monies were said to be back dated to April 1, 2022 and paid out in January 2023. This, he said was due to the fact that government currently did not have the budget for the funds as all the uniformed forces including police and correctional officers and Eswatini Umbutfo Defence Force (EUDF) were expected to benefit. Lukhele mentioned that government was to solicit a supplementary budget before paying out. Meanwhile, he said the third quarter of government supplement budget was made in December, which was why it was expected to be paid out in January. “We requested the minister to issue a circular to that effect as we feared that there could be a misimpression to the masses,” said the chairperson. Lukhele said the minister promised to issue the circular, which has not yet been published. “We are still waiting for the circular.”

However, he said they did not wait for the circular to report back to the junior police, correctional and EUDF officers. He said they delivered the report which was not accepted by some members who accused government of dishonesty. Lukhele said the members mentioned that government could deny such reports in the near future and attribute the four per cent to the phase II. He said despite the disagreement, a majority of their about 5 000 members showed that they were accepting the report of the four per cent, while a minority rejected it and stuck on the phase II. According to Lukhele, the SG was also among the minority that rejected the four per cent offer.

Rejected

He said they were still trying to convince them to accept the offer in an amicable way and that the four per cent was a cushion. Lukhele maintained that they did not object the offer and there was nothing they signed on whether they rejected or took it. Executive member Boy Boy Thwala said there were talks that they had signed for the four per cent, which was not true.
“There was no document that was signed as it was not the mandate we had gone to the minister for,” said Thwala. He said they had gone to the minister regarding the issue of Circular Number 2 of 2014. Thwala said as the staff association, they needed to take the feedback of the four per cent cushion to the masses who elected them first. He said as the NATCOM executive and themselves, they were waiting for a date to address the masses during a mass meeting to give the feedback. Thwala said they could not have agreed or rejected to the four per cent offer as they did not know about it. “Some few individuals who were in disagreement with the offer made by government convinced the SG,” he said.