MANZINI – Junior police officers affiliated to the Royal Eswatini Police Staff Association (REPOSA) have resolved to organise a march to the Ministry of Public Service on Tuesday.
They resolved to also march to Cabinet.
They held an emergency meeting yesterday at the SNAT Centre. During the meeting, they said they will deliver a petition regarding their grievances.
The officers expressed deep concern over salary increments, revealing that while the senior officers received a 37 per cent salary increase, junior officers were given only one per cent, later adjusted to two per cent.
“This is shocking. We love the King and are loyal to him, but there are people making us so angry because they think we can help them by rendering the country ungovernable,” one of the speakers said.
They recalled the 2021 civil unrest, when protesters fired gunshots at police vehicles driven by junior officers, while senior officers removed their uniforms and travelled in private, tinted cars out of fear.
“We want the King, who is our Commissioner-in-Chief, to know that we are suffering,” the officers stressed.
They said attempts to seek help from traditional structures, including a high-ranking soldier who worked for the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force and Liqoqo (the traditional advisory council), yielded no support. “We do not know where to go now as junior police officers because wherever we turn, we are blocked,” they said.
The financial strain is affecting their families, with schools closing and academic results delayed due to unpaid fees. The officers lamented that ‘out of frustration and depression, police are now committing suicide’ and that high stress levels are driving their outspoken frustration.
The officers explained that they were excluded from salary review negotiations, resulting in the small increments which they view as insulting.
“We are marching on Tuesday to present our petition. They told us that the salary review must consider inflation, but we are intelligent officers and people must not take us for granted. We know what we want,” another speaker said.
They also distanced themselves from seniors at the headquarters who sometimes speak on behalf of the staff association. To the media, they urged verification of information with REPOSA at police headquarters.
“We are all emaSwati and do not want to be corrupted by swindling the public because we are paid peanuts,” the officers said.
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