SOWING SEEDS OF DISCORD

THE irony of this week which is marred by public discontent is the demise of the country’s acting traditional ‘prime minister’ Velabo Timothy Mthethwa – popularly known as TV - who chaired a Sibaya dialogue that was dominated by similar voices around a selective approach to development that was widening the gap of the haves and the have-nots.

On top of the list of submissions was the meagre elderly grants contrasted with the politicians’ pension perks that could see the Prime Minister earn E60 000 a month. Emotions ran high which forced the charismatic governor to pull the plug on the microphone, earning him the tag ‘Cisha logezi.’

These voices are ringing loud once again as government has unashamedly widened this divide with its selective salary adjustments for senior civil servants at a time when the ordinary civil servants were told that the country was faced with a cash flow crisis and therefore government had zero per cent to offer them.

Our condolences go to the Mthethwa family as well as the institution he loyally served over decades. He may have deserved to rest during more peaceful times but he leaves behind familiar voices of discontent, only this time taken to the streets with threats to grind government services to a halt. He may have found a small measure of comfort though, in having lived long enough to witness the implementation of one important recommendation from Sibaya, that of increasing the grants for the elderly. It may never be enough or anywhere near comparable to the politician’s pension, but it was better than none at all, thanks to the King who insisted the elderly be heard.

We do hope the rest of the recommendations have not died with the acting governor, because many of them provide the solutions we need to help this country realise its full development potential. 
It is fair to say that our government has a phobia for good advice. This is advice we desperately need to grow the economy and distribute the wealth across this small nation so that we never get to witness the current impasse on the labour front, quieten the dissenting voices and avoid the financial woes of today.

Sadly, each day takes us further away from the solutions we desire, as the holders of public office seem hell bent on sowing seeds of division - presumably so that they may govern without due transparency and accountability. In the process, our worst fears are becoming a reality.

A case in point is the pathetic excuse given by the Ministry of Public Service in trying to justify a secret salary adjustment for senior civil servants when it had shut the door to the vault for all other civil servants. This is a classic display of arrogance and disrespect towards lower class citizens.

Public Service Principal Secretary Evart Madlopha says of the 200 appeals filed by civil servants arising from the ‘Dvuladvula’ salary review, there was nothing sinister about correcting those of a select few outside the Joint Negotiating Forum (JNF). He said government was ‘morally’ compelled to correct the salary structure anomalies and that this should not impede in any way the appeals process being undertaken with the public sector associations.
He argued that these are cases where seniors were being paid less than their juniors, an anomaly that was not picked up during the 2016/17 salary review implementation. So what about all the other anomalies that have placed the ordinary civil servants at a disadvantage? Why could government not simply freeze the junior officers increment for coming years until normality is restored? This would save us millions. Two wrongs don’t make a right.What is so special about the select few? If the adjustments were justified, why by-pass the JNT?

Trying to find morality in this statement by the PS and in the timing of this exercise is akin to searching for a needle in a haystack.
Madlopha tells us of government savings being used for these immoral adjustments. One would think that at this critical point of our cash strapped government; all savings would go towards resuscitating the economy by paying off debt to businesses so that they can save the little jobs the country has left and earn the treasury more tax revenue which would help government keep up with payment of salaries. 

This attitude reflects the total lack of concern for businesses, their employees and their families. This is the mentality that Sibaya complained about, warning that it would lead to the collapse of our economy and bring about civil strife.  True to these predictions, we are just about getting there if not there already.

We may have lost governor Mthethwa (May his soul rest in peace) but the solutions he presided over at Sibaya, together with many others gathering dust in government offices, are there for the taking – Let’s use them to ‘Cisha logezi’ (silence) all the noise that that now seriously threatens our unity and peace!

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