GOVT CUTS REPS, HMCS RECRUITS’ PAY BY 52%

MANZINI – Recruits in the armed forces will now get a salary that has been decreased by 52 per cent to E2 931 while in training.

In balancing up its expenditure, government decreased the salary of recruits from E5 636.58 per month to E2 931. This is according to the Establishment Circular No. 5 of 2022: Salary adjustment of the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) and His Majesty’s Correctional Services (HMCS). The Circular was released by the Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Public Service, Sipho Tsabedze, on November 30, 2022, in preparation of the adjustments to be implemented in the salaries of State security personnel.

In the review, the Circular issued by the PS on behalf of the ministry, did not only alter the remuneration for recruits but also changed their post titles. Trainees under the HMCS were all along referred to as Warder II Notch 1, which is a position that was paid E67 639 annually; but in the new Circular, they are referred to as ‘Trainee Warder Recruit’ and are paid E35 172 yearly.

Aspiring

It is the same with the REPS, wherein an aspiring police officer had a post title of Constable II Notch 1 and was paid E67 639 annually; however,  in the new Circular, they are referred to as ‘Trainee Police Recruit’. They shall be paid E35 172 per year. The adjustments are subsequent to the awarding of an additional four per cent to security personnel as they raised concerns of being left in the cold for almost eight years since the implementation of Phase I of the salary restructuring exercise of 2014 in line with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) counterparts.

Phase I of the salary restructuring exercise of 2014 benefitted about 102 senior personnel of the REPS and HMCS and the low ranking officers in the two State security agencies are yet to benefit. These officers are 8 170. In addressing the concerns by lowly ranked officers in the aforementioned security agencies, Minister of Public Service Mabulala Maseko announced that with effect from January 2023, the junior personnel would be awarded a four per cent salary cushion backdated to April 1, 2022.

Interviews

However, in effecting the new scale, the aspiring security personnel, who recently completed their interviews to fill in vacancies, shall have their salaries decreased by 52 per cent. Recruits in the aforementioned security agencies were provisioned to earn E65 669 according to the Establishment Register supporting the Estimates of public expenditure for the financial year 2022/23. However, the annual salary for aspirants in the HMCS and the REPS was further reviewed upwards during the implementation of the three per cent cost-of living adjustment (CoLA) and once-off payment of one per cent of their annual salary.

During this process, the salary was increased by E1 970 to E67 639 per annum. However, in a twist of events, as government was in a bid to defuse the tension between it as an employer and junior security officers over the issue of Phase II, they were not only omitted from the said cushion but had their pay minimised. It is worth noting that the decrease in the salary of recruits has resulted in their annual salary being almost equivalent to the monthly salary of a senior superintendent on Notch II as it stands at E35 911.55.

The recruits annual salary as per the Circular shall now stand at E35 172.  It is worth noting that in the Establishment Circular No. 5 of 2022: Salary adjustment of the REPS and HMCS, Tsabedze said pursuant to the review and restructuring of the two entities and the grievances raised by junior officers emanating from the implementation of Phase I of the restructuring of strategic levels in the two forces in terms of Circular No.1 of 2014, government had deemed it appropriate to issue the Circular to implement the new salaries.

Restructuring

He said: “Government had, therefore, approved the restructuring of the aforesaid institutions for salary adjustment implementation. This process shall address the remaining part of the operational as well as the tactical levels of the two institutions.” The PS said any outstanding issues shall be addressed by the consultant who would be engaged by government this current financial year to undertake the review of salaries for civil servants across the public service.

Meanwhile, the decrease in the remuneration of recruits comes at a time when some junior security personnel are calling for the suspension of recruitments in order for the employer to raise enough money to implement Phase II of the Salary Review Structure of 2014. They said if government was broke, promotions in the REPS, renewal of contracts for retirees and also recruitments, should be stopped as all these exercises needed money.

On the other hand, the implementation of the four per cent cushion for security personnel seemingly has brought an impasse among civil servants, as public sector unions (PSUs) have come out to demand that they want to benefit from the deal as well.

Concerns

Leaders of the PSUs have formally raised their concerns over government’s offer to junior members of the State security organ in one of their negotiations - Joint Negotiation Forum (JNF). Unions under the banner of PSUs are; the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU), Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) and Swaziland National Association of Government Accounting Personnel (SNAGAP).

Meanwhile, the ministry through its leader, claimed that the four per cent salary cushion was reached during bilateral talks, not collective negotiations. The minister, in a recent interview, informed this publication that the issue of the four per cent was discussed at a bilateral level, just like nurses who successfully negotiated to be paid overtime allowances.

It is worth noting that when tabling the offer to cushion their salaries by increasing them by four per cent, government said the issue of Phase II would be addressed by a consultant, which would be doing a salary review exercise for all civil servants in the country.  Again, it is worth highlighting that some of the junior officers in the police service and HMCS rejected the four per cent salary cushion. However, the minister of Public Service said those who did not want the four per cent should leave it in their bank accounts when government implemented the salary cushion in January 2023.

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