ELECTIONS: EMPLOYERS NOT FORCED TO GRANT LEAVE OF ABSENCE

MBABANE – Employers are not forced to grant their employees, who are running for public office, leave of absence unless they win the elections.

For years, it had been a norm that once a person was nominated in the general elections exercise, that person would be given some time off work. The leave of absence was confused with Section 33 1(e) of the 2023 Elections Act of 2013. This piece of legislation, under declaration of candidate duly nominated for elections, listed the documents that needed to be submitted by the nominee in order for the nomination to be valid. Among the documents is a consent letter from the employer, in the case of a public officer. However, even employers in the private sector had been seen submitting these letters. Subsection 6 of the same Act states that the employer shall cancel the consent letter required under Section 33 (e), where the public officer is not successful in the election and such cancellation of leave of absence shall have effect from the date of losing the elections. This refers to people who were nominated for the positions of bucopho, indvuna yenkhundla and Member of Parliament (MP).

The Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) Legal Advisor Principal Crown Counsel Mbuso Dlamini, explained in details the leave of absence that is referred to by the Elections Act of 2013, as well as the Constitution of the Kingdom of Eswatini. The legal advisor, during a meeting that was held by EBC with chiefs in the Manzini Region, explained that there shouldn’t be any employee, who would have been granted leave of absence during the current stages of the elections. He explained that the letter of consent from an employer shouldn’t be confused with permission for leave of absence, while the elections were ongoing.

He went on to clarify that for employees, such as civil servants, who were running for the 2023 General Elections, their leave of absence applied once Parliament is in office. “There is no Parliament now, therefore, all employees who are candidates in the upcoming elections are expected to be at work. The leave of absence aspect of the letters they were granted by their employers will only kick-in once the candidate wins the elections and authorities announce the commencement of Parliament,” he said. Dlamini added that the letters of consent from employers, for now, were only used as proof, to show that the officer was following the procedure in terms of participation. He also cited Section 95, which clearly stipulates that the leave of absence should be for the duration of Parliament. Subsection 1 (c) of the Constitution, under disqualifications, apply to a member of armed forces or holding or acting in any public office, who has not been granted leave of absence for the duration of Parliament.

Overall, it is up to the employer to excuse an employee to go and campaign among other duties that particular employee would want to perform as he or she runs for Parliament. Leave of absence only kicks-in once an employee wins the elections and the authorities pronounce the commencement of Parliament. Worth noting our sister publication Eswatini News published a story whereby all civil servants had been ordered to be at work. In a letter that was sent by the Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Public Service Sipho Tsabedze stated that civil servants were not yet allowed to take leave of absence. Salaries of employees who obtained their leave of absence are usually suspended and it had been the norm in the past, but this year salaries had not been yet suspended as they were expected to be at work.

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