SANU LECTURERS ‘MAKE NOISE’ OUTSIDE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

MBABANE – While the Minister of Education and Training Owen Nxumalo toured four schools around Mbabane, SANU lecturers ‘made noise’ outside the ministry yesterday.

The Southern  Africa Nazarene University (SANU) lecturers said the purpose of the visit was to ‘make noise’ so that they could be attended to by the minister and hear their longtime concerns. Asked if they were aware that the minister was touring schools in the ongoing fact-finding mission, the lecturers responded to the negative.

Demonstrated

The lectures, who demonstrated while carrying placards outside the ministry, said they had visited the Minister of Education and Training, Nxumalo, as his children as the institution (SANU) fell under the ministry. The lecturers said they wanted to inform the minister about the management’s failure to address their concerns. They claimed that their pension and medical aid contributions had not been remitted for some time and their lives were under threat, claiming that they were no longer accepted in hospitals. “Government is quick to say an institution should make means to make its own money other than relying on subventions. Institutions need money to make more money,” they said. However, the lecturers’ visit to the ministry remains hearsay to the institution’s management.

In an interview yesterday, SANU Registrar Sipho Mhlanga said management was not aware of the decision by the lecturers to visit the ministry. Mhlanga said the management only heard that the lecturers had a meeting on Monday after their representatives met the management last Friday. Asked what was discussed during the Friday meeting, Mhlanga stated that the lecturers complained about transport, following their 80 per cent pay in January. He said management suggested that the lecturers should attend on alternate days pending a resolution to the issue. “The representatives left to consult the members. We only heard that they were at the ministry yesterday,” Mhlanga said. When the claims made by the lecturers were put to Mhlanga, he said management was aware of the salary issue which is still on the table.

Consultant

“Management is committed to finding solutions to the issues affecting the lecturers. We have been engaging with the lecturers’ representatives. We have also engaged a consultant for a programme that will start on February to April in trying to resolve the issues affecting the school,” he said. On the pension issue, Mhlanga stated that they were yet to deliberate on it.
He said the sad thing was that the management’s efforts were let down by distrust among the lecturers. He stated that some of the allegations made by the lecturers against the management were new to them.

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