AT LEAST E350M SET ASIDE FOR COLA

MBABANE – Around E350 million has been set aside for civil servants’ cost-of-living adjustment (CoLA) for the 2024/2025 financial year.

Unlike in previous budget speeches, the Minister of Finance, Neal Rijkenberg, did not include this bit in his speech, but simply made a provision for it. Highly-placed sources within the Public Budget Committee (PBC) disclosed that E350 million had been set aside for CoLA, that would benefit the over 42 686 civil servants. Minister Rijkenberg and his counterpart from Public Service, Mabulala Maseko, also confirmed that there was a provision for CoLA. Maseko said they were yet to engage in negotiations with their industrial relations partners on the matter. In fact, the minister said it was not a mistake that the allocation was not announced in public. He said a resolution was taken by the public sector unions (PSUs) not to disclose how much government had budgeted. PSUs are made of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU), National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU), and Swaziland National Association of Government Accounting Personnel (SNAGAP).

Announcement

He said the announcement created a picture that the outcomes of the Joint Negotiation Forum (JNF) were pre-planned by government, which is presented by the Government Negotiating Team (GNT). “There is a provision but we cannot say how much it is,” Maseko said. Meanwhile, SNAT, Secretary General (SG) Lot Vilakati also echoed the minister’s sentiments. Vilakati said from the budget speech, they drew that the inflation rate was between 4.7 to five per cent. When he was asked what they were looking at tabling during negotiations, he said they would not want to rush into speaking about the matter of the GNF in public, because that would be going against what they urged government not to do. “We urged government not to announce JNT agenda in public. Parties are yet to sit and develop the agenda, but we have noted the inflation rate,” he said.

Last year, government awarded three per cent CoLA, while PSUs had initially tabled 8.7 per cent. In 2022, government awarded the same percentage, while PSUs had requested for over seven per cent. On Monday, the minister announced domestic prices remained elevated in 2023 as the overall Eswatini inflation averaged 5.02 per cent in the 11 months of the year, from the 4.7 per cent recorded in the same period in 2022. The uptick in inflationary pressure was underpinned by ‘food and non-alcoholic beverages’, as well as prices for housing and utilities. The minister said food and non-alcoholic beverages averaged an increase of 13.3 per cent in the 11 months compared to the 7.9 per cent recorded in the same period in 2022. 

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