MBONGWA IN JNF MEET, GOVT TEAM WALKS OUT

MBABANE - The much-anticipated Joint Negotiations Forum (JNF) between Public Sector Unions (PSUs) and the Government Negotiations Team (GNT) failed to take off on Wednesday as scheduled.

This is because the Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Public Service, Sipho Tsabedze, as the government’s Chief Negotiator, together with other government officials, walked out of the meeting before it could be opened by the JNF chairperson. This is according to the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) Secretary General (SG), Lot Vilakati. The GNF followed a petition and a picketing by the leadership of the PSUs recently, calling for the JNF to be reconvened. The PSUs include SNAT, Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU), National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU), and Swaziland National Association of Government Accounting Personnel (SNAGAP).

In a statement issued by Vilakati, Tsabedze did not wait for the JNF chairperson to open the meeting, where he allegedly pointed out that, as government, they had a mandate not to meet with SNAT President Mbongwa Dlamini, because he was allegedly dismissed by the Teaching Service Commission (TSC). According to Vilakati, this was despite the March 21, 2024 Industrial Court ruling in favour of Dlamini, where TSC was ordered to start afresh the disciplinary action.

“The court set aside the verbal and written decision of August 23 and 24, 2023, respectively, to dismiss the SNAT President from work,” Vilakati said. He stated that Tsabedze alluded to the fact that they were aware of the judgment, but government would allegedly not abide by court orders but would await an instrument from the TSC, confirming the reinstatement of the president. Vilakati said after the adjournment of the meeting, they resolved to urgently report the matter of the unforeseen behaviour of the GNT to the Commissioner of Labour, to intervene in the deadlock as per Section 82 of the Industrial Relations Act of 2000 (as amended). In the same vein, he said they also resolved to meet Prime Minister (PM) Russell Dlamini to report on what was unfolding at the JNF. Vilakati went on to assure members that they would be kept abreast of other developments regarding the subject matter.

Issues

“We are aware that government is buying time, instead of addressing critical issues such as the protracted salary review, allowances, and cost-of-living adjustment (CoLA) for civil servants,” he said. Furthermore, he shared that the SNAT president would form part of the Education International (EI) delegation to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) congress and would be reporting to the congress about the state of union bashing in the country and the absence of collective bargaining, as per Convention 87 and 98 as ratified by the country on April 26, 1978.

Adding, SWADNU SG Mayibongwe Masangane shared the same sentiments and confirmed that the GNT walked out of the meeting. Masangane said this happened even before the chairperson could officially open the meeting. He said Tsabedze told them that government had a position regarding Dlamini’s presence in JNF.

Masangane shared that they were allegedly told that, if Dlamini was available in the JNF, they would not be part of the meeting. According to Masangane, Tsabedze said they were not concerned about the court rulings as government, when Dlamini’s employer, the TSC is still not ready to comply with the judgment recently issued.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: