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CIVIL SERVANTS WANT 70% ‘DVULADVULA’ THIS YEAR

03/01/2017 08:49:00 BY STANLEY KHUMALO

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MBABANE – Public sector associations (PSAs) have started to jab government as they demand a salary increment of not less than 70 per cent this year.

This is despite that the civil servants received an increment of not less than 17 per cent last year dubbed ‘dvuladvula’. This pay rise turned out to be a far cry from what the PSAs had anticipated. Instead, politicians were the ones who received a windfall that saw their salaries increase by 32 per cent.

The decision to remunerate politicians better than civil servants, despite that they were not party to the negotiations, has coerced the public sector unions to resolve to accept nothing less than their demand.
Aubrey Sibiya, President of the National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU), said the time had come for government to take the welfare of civil servants seriously. “We demand 70 per cent considering that what was meant to be our pay hike ended up in the wrong hands.”

The demand, he said, would be achieved by hook or crook.
Sibiya noted that unionists were ready and prepared to leave their workstations and fill up the streets in demand of what they believe is theirs. He further said civil servants’ remuneration in the country was pathetic as compared to other countries in the region.

“If civil servants are not better remunerated, Vision 2022 would be nothing but a fallacy as the poor will live miserably while the rich do the opposite,” Sibiya said.
He emphasised that the pricing of necessities had shot up beyond what an ordinary civil servant can afford. This, Sibiya said, coerced union leaders to demand the 70 per cent. His sentiments were echoed by Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) Secretary General Zwelithini Mndzebele.

He said as teachers, they were anticipating a better increment this year.
He said they were hoping that no teacher would earn less than E10 000.
“The salaries should be increased as what transpired last year ended up being stipends for all civil servants save for those in executive positions. We want the low pay to be a thing of the past.”