The long-awaited civil service salary review has landed with a certain degree of apprehension for lowly paids while their superiors are much better off, presenting government with one of its most delicate balancing acts in recent years.
While the injection of more money into the pockets of consumers can be a stimulant for a struggling economy, the resultant structure has widened the gap between the ‘haves and the have nots’.
How our Cabinet navigates the coming months will put their leadership skills to the test in determining whether this salary review fosters inclusive growth, or fuels the very national strife it seeks to avoid.
Increasing the disposable income for a substantial portion of the workforce should, in theory, boost consumer spending, benefitting small and medium enterprises and stimulating local economic activity.
However, the wage bill has ballooned by 36 per cent following this review, which poses an existential threat to our fiscal health.
To try and address this, we now hear of an intention to revive the Enhanced Voluntary Retirement Scheme (EVERS) as a means of weeding out deadwood, streamline the public service and create a more sustainable payroll. The Minister for Public Service, Mabulala Maseko, said this is the option government is hoping and leaning towards – a leaner, more efficient civil service.
However, these potential benefits may be overshadowed by the inequalities the review has given birth to. On one end, a cleaner received a modest increase of E268. On the other hand, a head teacher’s salary jumped by over E8 000 per month, while top-tier officials in Grade F5, now earn a staggering E93 315.
This has obviously upset the unions representing the bulk of the civil service. National Public Services and Allied Workers Union President, Winile Ndlovu, called it a ‘generational curse,’ as the low-earning public servants feel abandoned and devalued. This widening gap is a recipe for social discontent if not addressed properly. To say the unions signed for it may not cool the rising temperatures.
This brings us to the central, urgent question: Is our Cabinet ready to handle this complex situation, in a way that inspires the public confidence needed to navigate these perilous times? The challenge is Herculean, extending far beyond the confines of the civil service payroll.
Government must simultaneously navigate a landscape of high unemployment that has soared to 35.4 per cent. This means the salary review for a select, already-employed few occurs against a backdrop of mass joblessness and the desperation of thousands of graduates and youth with no prospects.
Compounding this is the threat of reduced budget sources. The wage bill has already exploded past its cap, and this comes amid serious and unsettling threats to the Southern African Customs Union (SACU); a vital revenue stream that our national budget relies upon.
Recent assurances of South Africa officials, while welcome, do not fully erase the underlying anxieties about the future of this crucial financial lifeline. Meanwhile, government must operate in an environment where public trust is fragile. The perception that the review overwhelmingly benefits top officials and policymakers erodes the very foundation of trust needed for effective governance. This is exacerbated by the persistent challenges of corruption, rising food prices and the growing inequality.
When Economist Sanele Sibiya warns that these salary increases could lead to ‘inflationary pressures’, as the private sector seeks to keep up, it signals that the pain may yet be passed back to the very consumers who were supposed to benefit, creating a vicious cycle that hurts the poor the most.
In response, government has pointed to a promising pipeline of job creation projects as the ultimate solution. These include the Eswatini Road Infrastructure Improvement Programme, the multibillion Emalangeni Industrial Park for Nokwane, the Strategic Oil Reserve and the new Parliament building. These are commendable, vision-laden initiatives.
However, they may not be enough to address the crisis of graduate unemployment. The University of Eswatini produces approximately 4 000 graduates annually for an economy that, by its own skills audit, creates fewer than 100 new positions in many of its fields each year. This mismatch is a time bomb that infrastructure projects alone cannot defuse without a parallel, aggressive strategy for skills alignment and direct youth employment programmes.
The path forward, therefore, demands a coordinated approach from the highest levels of government. A fragmented response, where the Ministry of Public Service focuses on the EVERS in isolation from the Ministry of Labour’s efforts on unemployment or where the Ministry of Commerce touts projects without the Ministry of Education fixing the fundamental skills mismatch, will only deepen the crisis and unsettle the nation’s peace.
Government must move with speed and clarity on the EVERS, ensuring it is a genuine, well-structured win-win that respects workers’ dignity, as advocated by Trade Union Congress of Eswatini General Secretary Mduduzi Gina, who noted it can be a ‘win-win situation if approached correctly.’ It must simultaneously accelerate its job creation agenda, not just in announcements but in demonstrable, tangible results that put emaSwati to work.
The peace and stability of our nation depend on a government that can manage these competing pressures with a united front. This is not merely an administrative task; it is the definitive test of this administration’s leadership.
Cabinet must act as one, with a coherent and communicated strategy that reassures a weary public that in the necessary pursuit of fiscal responsibility, social justice and shared prosperity are not being sacrificed on the altar of expediency.
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