General

MANZINI - ‘Asisamufuni managing director!’

These strong words, which mean “We do not want the managing director anymore,” dominated the day when a faction of employees of the Eswatini Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (EPTC) demanded an audience with the Minister for Information, Communication and Technology (ICT), Savannah Maziya.

The employees, who are members of the Swaziland Communications and Allied Workers Union (SCWU), gathered yesterday at the Salesian Hall for a special meeting where they deliberated on a litany of issues related to their welfare.

The union has members from both EPTC and Eswatini MTN but issues of the members from the latter were not part of the agenda yesterday.

Besides seeking an audience, the employees directed their executive committee to write a letter to the minister, informing her that they have passed a vote of no confidence in the parastatal’s Managing Director (MD), Themba Khumalo.

Notably, the EPTC is a Category A public enterprise, meaning it is a company fully-owned by government, or in which government holds a majority interest, or which depends on government subventions for financial support.

The power to hire and dismiss chief executive officers (CEOs) of State-owned enterprises (SOEs) generally rests with the Board of Directors of each enterprise, but with significant influence or final approval from the line minister and Cabinet.

The Public Enterprises Unit (PEU), under the Ministry of Finance, plays a regulatory role by ensuring that recruitment and dismissal processes follow proper governance principles. However, it does not usually make the final decision — rather, it guides and vets the process.

Even before the start of yesterday’s meeting, it was evident that the employees had serious issues to discuss, as they repeatedly pleaded with the executive committee members for the programme to begin.  For about an hour, there were concerns that very few members were present and that their constitution clearly stipulated that two-thirds of the total number of union members were required to form a quorum.

Despite failing to form a quorum, the employees told the executive that they were determined to proceed with the meeting, as they had come to discuss issues deeply affecting them.

One of the issues raised most strongly was that they no longer have confidence in the current MD (Khumalo).

As a result, they resolved that the union’s national executive committee (NEC) should write to the minister, in her capacity as the appointing authority of the MD, to inform her that their confidence in him has collapsed.

According to the employees, the Minister for Education and Training, Owen Nxumalo, engages regularly with teachers and this, they said, was the type of interaction they expected from Maziya.

“The minister holds public office, which means that we have a right to engage with her. We must not be scared to request a meeting with her,” one of the employees said. They further noted that the minister had admitted herself before the Parliament Select Committee that the MD was not cooperative. It was alleged, as reported by this publication in May this year, that the MD was refusing to report to Maziya.

The claim was that he reports to a much higher authority.

This revelation surfaced in Parliament during debate on the report presented by the select committee, which had been tasked with probing a variety of concerns raised about the parastatal.

Before the adoption of the report, members of the select committee detailed how, during their investigation, they discovered that the MD had allegedly hired executives he had previously worked with in another entity, who now acted according to his directives. The MPs further said that even Maziya could not prevail against the MD.

They claimed to have established that even the parastatal’s performance reports did not reach the minister, leaving her unaware of whether EPTC was generating any revenue. At yesterday’s special meeting, employees questioned why the minister was not sending the MD home.

They went further to say they wanted not only the MD removed, but the entire management team.

Full article available in our paper.

General Secretary of the Swaziland Communications and Allied Workers Union (SCWU) Musawenkhosi Mnisi addresses the members. Next to him are the national executive committee members. (Pic: Ntombi Mhlongo)