CHANGING DATES OF BIRTH: MINISTER WITHDRAWS REPORT

LOBAMBA – The Minister of Public Service, Mabulala Maseko, has withdrawn the non-fulfilling report he tabled in Parliament on the altering of dates of birth by civil servants.
The minister withdrew the report on the day it was supposed to be debated and adopted by the House of Assembly, after he tabled it almost two weeks ago. When withdrawing the report, the minister said he had spoken to both the mover and the seconder of the motion and they were not impressed with the report. The minister’s report was marred with controversy after it was learnt that he did not follow the instructions of the House when he prepared the report. This includes engaging the Civil Service Commission (CSC), to investigate the growing trend of altering dates of birth. Prior to the report, Lobamba Lomdzala Member of Parliament (MP) Marwick Khumalo moved that the Minister of Public Service, Mabulala Maseko, should engage the CSC and investigate the growing trend of civil servants who alter their dates of birth mid-service or when they are about to retire, so they can stay longer in the civil service.

revealed

The MPs said if the CSC could successful lycarry out the assignment; it would be revealed that the public service is dominated by people who should have long retired. It was also mentioned by the MPs that fishing them out will result in job openings for new blood in the government system, thus presenting a chance to some of the around 260 000 unemployed emaSwati, mostly the youth, who cannot be absorbed by government because of the hiring controls put in place. The reason the MPs said the minister must rope in the CSC in the investigation is because the commission is responsible for hiring, disciplining and firing civil servants, even though it faces challenges at times, but in law they are mandated to do so.
Section 186 of the Constitution states that; The Civil Service Commission may, among other things;  
(a) initiate or cause to be initiated appropriate procedures or processes leading to the selection or shortlisting of candidates for appointment to public office;  
(b) Enquire or cause to be enquired into any grievance or complaint, whether or not leading to disciplinary action;    
(c) Exercise appellate functions, with power to vary, in respect of certain decisions by persons or authorities exercising delegated powers;  
(d) Do or cause to be done any act or thing reasonably necessary for the due and prompt execution of any function prescribed in this Constitution or any other law; and  
(e) Delegate upon the chairman or any of its members any of its functions.

During the sitting, the minister requested from the Speaker to be given 14 days to table a better report with the instruction of the House being followed.
“I met with the mover and the seconder of the motion, and they were not satisfied with the report, hence I request that I withdraw it and be given 14 days to table another one,” he said.
The minister said issues of civil servants require time. He said the next report will shed light and provide solutions to the issue. This is the first report to be withdrawn in the 12th Parliament. The only common form of withdrawal is that of statements made by MPs and ministers. Withdrawals that have been noted in the past were Bills and motions.
Mayiwane MP Sicelo Dlamini stated that, when the minister was tasked by Parliament to investigate, it was not meant to scandalise anyone, but to assist government deal with the high unemployment rate.

released

The Integrated Labour Force Survey 2023, which was officially released by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, stated that the unemployment rate increased by 2.1 per cent from 33.3 per cent in 2022, to 35.4 per cent in 2023. The report showed that the employment rate is high in the Shiselweni Region, which stands at 42.7 per cent, followed by Hhohho Region at 39.9 per cent, Manzini and Lubombo regions were both at 30.9 per cent. In terms of unemployment by gender, females recorded the highest number, sitting at 37.6 per cent, while males were at 33.1 per cent. The report also revealed that youth unemployment rate decreased from 58.2 per cent to 56 per cent.

Dlamini went on to state that civil servants who were hired in 1990, or before, have new national identity cards (IDs) in their files, that were obtained between 2019 to 2021.
These new IDs have new dates of births compared to the ones they registered when entering the service. This is despite the fact that the Government General Order A635, and Civil Service Board Circular No.3 of 1994, clearly states that only the date the officer registered when entering the civil service should be considered for retirement, nothing less or more.
The circular also bares the use of affidavits to support a date of birth. The tabled report, which was later withdrawn, stated that 426 civil servants in the past five years made requests to alter their dates of birth.

rejected

The minister stated in the tabled report that 246 of the requests were successful, while 180 were rejected. Out of over 44 000 civil servants, the granted requests consist of 0.2 per cent of the headcount. The Ministry of Public Service in the report, informed the House that the alteration of an individual’s date of birth (DOB) could arise from various factors, including erroneous data capture, conflicting information given by an officer and administrative oversight. However, after the tabling of the report, the Chairperson of the CSC, Simanga Mamba, revealed that they were never engaged in the investigation and they knew nothing about the contents of the report that was tabled by Minister Maseko. The chairman revealed this when he was engaged by this publication on how they arrived at refusing the 180 civil servants to alter their dates of birth and granted the 246, as per the report that was tabled by the minister stated that they have not been involved in the process. He further explained that the PS was the one responsible for granting the authority to alter dates of births.
This was in breach of Section 186 of the Constitution.

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