Times Of Swaziland: ABOUT E60M TO BE SPENT ON NEW RECRUITS YEARLY ABOUT E60M TO BE SPENT ON NEW RECRUITS YEARLY ================================================================================ Ntombi Mhlongo on 17/02/2020 08:27:00 MBABANE – The hiring of about 600 recruits for the country’s three security forces will hit hard on government’s purse. The hiring of the recruits was revealed after Chairperson of the Finance Sessional Committee, Manzini North MP Thandi Nxumalo, tabled a report on the Budget Estimates for the finacial year 2020/2021 on Friday. The report is yet to be debated and adopted by the House of Assembly on Wednesday. The security forces are the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS), Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force (UEDF) and His Majesty’s Correctional Services (HMCS). Reasons Each one of them, as per a recommendation made by the Finance Sessional Committee, has been allowed to recruit 200 officers to fill vacant positions which have been caused by, among other reasons, retirements. While all three forces have not officially announced whether the recruitment exercises will be undertaken this year or not, calculations reflect that if indeed they do take place, government will have to spend around E60 million in a year on the new personnel. For the REPS, recruits are paid around E6 000 per month, which is then increased once they complete the training course and the salaries qualify for the notching process. This means that if 200 are recruited this year, government will have to part with around E1.2 million per month in salaries. For the whole year, government will spend around E14.4 million. For the UEDF, members earn around E12 000 at entry level which means that government will have to fork out about E2.4 million per month to cater for the 200 that will be hired. This means that for the year, government will have to spend around E28.8 million. On another note, when the recruitment process was undertaken the last time in 2014 at the HMCS, the recruits were paid around E5 300. It is expected that if the recruitment does take place this year, the salaries for the HMCS recruits will increase to around E6 000. This, therefore, means that government will spend almost the same amount that it will pay for the REPS recruits. In total, government will spend around E14.4 million for REPS, another 14.4 million for HMCS and around E28.8 million for UEDF and this equals to E57.6million.