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WE WUZ ROBBED!

29/07/2016 04:25:00 By Martin Dlamini

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WHEN public sector associations got government to sign the Dvuladvula collective salary review agreement, they had every right to believe they owned the bragging rights to pulling off one of the biggest salary increments ever implemented in this country.

However, the 32 per cent pay raise for politicians that emerged a day before the workers could even get to the bank, has left them with their tails tucked between their legs and confronted with the reality that they still have a lot to learn from seasoned politicians like Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini, who walks away with a grand prize of E61 000 monthly pension.

For the workers, some of their members are already dead, having committed suicide, while others remain devastated by a bumper pay that never was.
Looking back at the PM’s strategy, one recalls him successfully whetting the appetite of civil servants with an assurance that they would smile all the way to the bank after the implementation of the salary review exercise.
Expectations reached fever pitch when the consultant report was released bearing good tidings of astronomical proportion - the highest increment sitting at 64 per cent.

It was game-on and the workers would settle for nothing less than what was promised. Mass meetings and threats of strike action followed, forcing government to yield to these demands. Now we know this was all part of the grand plan.

Well the smiles turned to growls as public servants screamed ‘we wuz robbed’ in broad daylight, while trying to come to terms with the 32 per cent salary increase for politicians. The average increase for the majority of public servants was 17 per cent. As a result, a mass demonstration is on the cards scheduled to coincide with the SADC Summit next month.

However, with the commissioner generals of the security forces now ranked the highest paid public servants, the nearest these protestors will ever get to the summit is most probably the front gate of their own homes.

It has also transpired that the politicians’ pay rise was not the only lesson taught to the workers. Heads of Departments (HODs) feel betrayed after government allegedly tampered with the signed collective agreement that had elevated them from salary grades C6 to E1. They were moved up to D3 instead, while the HODs of Colleges were placed at the agreed E1. The school HODs feel robbed of about E500 from their monthly salary. Robbing Peter to pay Paul? Of course.

The HODs are not the only ones crying foul over the politicians’ pay rise. Former prime ministers, who earn about E10 000, are devastated at being overlooked by the review exercise. This following revelations that the salary review favours only the current PM (and his deputy) who will now leave office with the’ dignity’ of a new house, car, security and most importantly, a E61 700 monthly salary deemed as pension.
They tried to be very diplomatic in their reaction to the news of the PM’s improved package but it was pretty obvious that the ex-PMs were not amused.
However, one is disappointed by the fact that they were more concerned about being left out rather than throwing caution to the fact that government cannot sustain such a huge wage bill under a strained economy like ours.
The PM has promised to address the concerns of his predecessors. If that happens, can we expect somebody will be looking into the matter of the elderly, who have for years been crying out for a review of their welfare grants of E60 per month without success, as they are often told that the country was faced with ‘dire financial constraints’.
The loudest cry of them all, however, should come from two children with disabilities, hidden from the rest of the world, suspected to be suffering from polio. Sadly, they can hardly speak for themselves. Perhaps this is the main reason that the best assistance given to their aunt who went in and out of all the government offices, are tissues to wipe away her tears.
Dvuladvula has come and gone but these children have nothing to brag about - not even a wheelchair.
Their plight represents the underprivileged group of our society that is often ignored like the plague because they are unable to group themselves like unions to fight for what they deserve.
Their representatives in Parliament literally ran away from them when visited at their homes to beg for ‘dvuladvula’ assistance.
Providing cash to community members is not the job of MPs, no doubt, but the only way the legislators can avoid playing ATM is by executing their oversight role efficiently to ensure that the perks to be enjoyed by the Prime Minister are relative to the standard of living of the majority of people in this country.
Most importantly, if there are any bragging rights to be had, they should belong to a people proud to call the Kingdom of eSwatini their home. For now, however, our economy and its people have been robbed of all the bragging rights in this regard.