MBABANE – Civil servants, who are technical experts in three ministries will smile all the way to the bank in a fortnight as they will get 10 per cent more than other public workers.
The civil servants are from the ministries of Finance, Public Service and Economic Planning and Development. They form the Planning and Budgeting Committee (PBC).
The PBC is a key governmental body comprising the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development and the Ministry of Public Service. It oversees the formulation, allocation and implementation of the national budget and leads the ‘Budget to the People’ community engagement initiatives.
The committee’s key roles and current activities include the Budget to the People Initiative, which was launched across all four regions and it hosts sessions with local leaders (chiefs, tindvuna tetinkhundla and bucopho) to educate citizens on how resources are allocated and to gather public input.
The PBC is also responsible for ensuring greater transparency and local community involvement in national development priorities and also opens up channels for public and corporate submissions in early January (for the upcoming fiscal year) through which citizens can email feedback.
According to documentation seen by this publication, 10 per cent of the monthly salary is dubbed the central agency allowance.
The central agency allowance, which shall be backdated to six months, before tax for those in pay grade E2 shall amount to E4 232.83 and when backdated, sums up to E38 095.50.
In addition to this benefit, in this pay grade, they shall also be awarded a housing allowance which amounts to E3 500 and, when backdated tallies E25 938.
It is this publication’s understanding that the Treasury Department has started uploading the payroll and personnel, starting with the allowances, as they are this month getting the second part of their salary review.
This follows that each calendar month, the Treasury Department starts running the payroll around the 12th, as public service employees are paid from the 16th.
This month, civil servants will get the outstanding 85 per cent salary review backpay as they were paid 15 per cent when the salary review was implemented in October 2025.
While individual payouts vary according to salary grade, employees in grades C to F stand to receive amounts ranging from approximately E14 968 to E174 733 in outstanding backpay. The largest payment is expected to go to employees in Grade F5, while workers in lower grades will receive smaller but still significant amounts.
Government disclosed that implementing the salary review requires approximately E1.643 billion, with the current staggered implementation accounting for about E800 million.
The July payout is set to arrive at a time when government is already facing competing demands, including infrastructure development, healthcare services, education expenditure and debt obligations.
Meanwhile, sources familiar with the payroll process said government had already processed this month’s salaries and that employees in the three ministries could already see both the 85 per cent salary review and the additional 10 per cent allowance reflected on their electronic payslips.
“It is already reflecting on the payslips. Employees in the three ministries will receive the 85 per cent salary review together with the 10 per cent Central Agencies Allowance,” said a source familiar with the process.
According to information gathered, the allowance was reportedly approved following recommendations by the consultant engaged to review conditions of service within the public sector.
The employer (government) committed to fully implement 100 per cent of all the recommended salary adjustments that are contained in Scenario III of the salary review report, subsequent to the submission of the final draft of the remuneration and/or salary review report by the consultants, being Emergence Human Capital T/A Emergence Growth, partnering with Umelusi Partners.
The development means that employees in the PBC will take home more than their counterparts in other government ministries this month, who are expected to receive only the outstanding 85 per cent salary review.
The payment of the outstanding 85 per cent salary review is expected to inject hundreds of millions of Emalangeni into the economy, with economists previously predicting increased consumer spending and improved business activity as thousands of civil servants receive their backdated remuneration.
Meanwhile, civil servants across government have welcomed the payment of the outstanding salary review, which concludes the implementation of the first comprehensive public service salary adjustment in nearly a decade.
They further said they were expecting that government will call them to sign a collective agreement, which will result in them establishing all the allowances that will be paid this month.
It is worth noting that based on the October 2025 collective agreement, civil servants in salary bands C to F were moved from their existing grades to Notch 1 of the new salary structure. Government paid only 15 per cent of the six-month backpay in October 2025, while the remaining 85 per cent is due this month.
The calculation is based on:
Outstanding 85% = (New Notch 1 Salary – Old Notch 1 Salary) × 6 months × 85%
The figures below exclude housing allowance, bus fare allowance and other consequential allowances that will also be implemented separately.
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