PAY US E40M OR WE SHUT DOWN BORDERS TODAY

MBABANE – “Pay us E40 million or we shut down the country’s borders today.”

This threat was made by immigration workers yesterday, when they presented their grievances to the Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Nhlanhla Nxumalo. A total of 255 immigration workers are demanding the payment of their overtime claims, which amount to E40 million. They warned of a total shutdown today, unless they receive the E40 million owed to them for overtime work. Sanele Magagula, Chairperson of the Mbabane Branch of the National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU), noted that the overtime payment issue dates back to 2010, with no payments having been made since. A meeting with the Ministry of Home Affairs in March this year, resulted in an agreement for the ministry to commence payments.

Meeting

Former NAPSAWU President Oscar Nkambule, who was reportedly sent by the union for technical advice, stated that after the meeting in March, the employees began filling out forms to document the owed money. “A deed of settlement was drafted and taken to court to be formalised into an order,” Nkambule explained.  He added that the matter, along with the court order, was then referred to the Ministry of Public Service.  “We are now facing delays at the Ministry of Public Service, which is causing difficulties in processing payments due to unclear reasons,” he said. Nkambule expressed frustration over the delays, noting that, according to the union’s understanding, the ministry had allocated funds for their payments, yet the disbursement was stalled. A shop steward, who wished to remain anonymous, revealed that while government initially owed them E47 million, the Ministry of Home Affairs negotiated the sum down to E40 million.

This negotiation resulted in each worker set to receive approximately 82 per cent of the original amount owed. The shop steward explained that the overtime in question was for the sixth and seventh days of the week. “Typically, we work from Monday to Friday, but due to our duties, we also work on weekends,” he said. Addressing the workers outside the ministry’s building yesterday, the PS assured that the ministry was working diligently to resolve the issue and promised to provide an update today. “We will meet with the Ministry of Public Service tomorrow (today) to discuss the matter and communicate the response to the union after the meeting,” he said.

The issue of the payment of overtime to civil servants was previously discussed in Parliament by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), during the appearance of government ministries, to respond to audit queries that were noted by the auditor general (AG) in financial audit reports on the Consolidated Government Accounts for the Kingdom of Eswatini. What surprised the PAC was that some employees claimed up to E28 000 overtime and some forms indicated that other employees worked for up to 24 hours.  The PAC members said the claims were suspicious and needed to be investigated.

Among the ministries in which overtime claims were of concern were those of Labour and Social Security, Natural Resources and Energy, as well as Agriculture. It was noted that some of the controlling officers were scared to even question the exorbitant overtime claims. The AG explained that Financial and Accounting Instruction 0802 stated that the signature of an officer on any voucher involving expenditure, certified the accuracy of every detail on the voucher. “He/she will, therefore, be held responsible that the services specified have been duly performed and that the prices charged are according to either contract or approved scales’.

In the event of an incorrect payment being made, the authorising officer will be held personally responsible and will be liable to be surcharged,” said the AG at the time. During the sitting, Assistant AG Samkele Motsa, said they advised the Ministry of Labour and Social Security to be the one that solves the matter with the Ministry of Home Affairs and further conduct investigations into the payment. There were concerns in the payment of overtime for employees who worked during national events. The Under Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Reverend Anthony Masilela, said some of the claims showed that some workers worked 24 hours, seven days a week during some of the national events that took up to a week, or more.

He said some of the claims were questionable, but because they had been signed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, they had to pay as stated. “The officers, during these national events, are also supervised by officers assigned by the Ministry of Home Affairs, one would find himself with questions as to whether anyone could work 24/7, as mentioned in the claims,” said the under secretary.  “But then, there are other duties where an officer works more hours, which makes it hard to dispute some of the claims, especially when the supervisors on the ground have signed. Even if you would want to question the claims, you find yourself without backup,” he said.

Meanwhile, reports of the end-to-end Time Release Study (TRS) of the Oshoek-Ngwenya, published on May 20, 2024, state that the coordination between Eswatini and South Africa underscores the importance of the Oshoek-Ngwenya Border Gate as the busiest land border post between the two countries and as a gateway for trade flows within the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and transit cargo routes to the port of Durban. The Oshoek-Ngwenya border, the largest SACU border post, handles over 50 per cent of Eswatini’s cross-border trade and eight per cent of South Africa’s land border cargo.  The report also stated that the extensive line of waiting trucks at the border was the direct trigger for the joint TRS between the two countries.

Movement

The Annual State of Cross-Border Operation Report of 2022, stated that cross-border road transport played an important role of facilitating regional trade, cross-border services and passenger movement in and between countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC).  Six countries in the region are landlocked, which means they rely on coastal countries to access regional and global markets. From this viewpoint, according to the report, it becomes imperative that the region establishes and maintains an efficient cross-border transport system, to reach regional and global markets.

Road transport is the dominant mode of transport in the SADC (and Africa), accounting for over 80 per cent of total freight and passenger traffic movements, moving along regional road transport corridors. Road transport corridors are particularly important to landlocked countries in SADC, as they rely on coastal countries for the greater share of their trade.
Despite the significance of the cross-border road transport industry in fostering regional and global trade and in enhancing regional integration, this sector faces several hard and soft infrastructure challenges.

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