UPROAR AS ESWATINI TV ACTING MANAGER KEEPS HER POSITION

MBABANE – Following the removal of four employees from their positions as acting managers, Eswatini TV staffers have cried foul over one manager who has been spared.

Patience Magagula has been allowed to continue to occupy the position of Acting News Editor, triggering complaints from some employees at the national television station who feel she should have been removed alongside the other four. The quartet of Nkhosinatsi Dlamini, Humphrey Dlamini, Lucky Gamedze and John Pires was removed from the positions of Acting Editor in Chief, Acting News Editor, Acting Marketing Manager and Acting Senior Marketing Officer respectively. The removal of the four was perceived as victimisation by concerned employees because the Corporate Affairs Manager, Mncedzisi Mayisela, implemented the decision soon after the station’s Acting Chief Executive Officer Vusigama’s contract had expired.  Also, the employees raised concern that Mayisela issued the letters informing the four of their removal just when he was due to leave on an international trip.

timed his decision

They suspected that he timed his decision so that he could be away from office to avoid any queries the four could possibly raise. However, Mayisela justified the decision by stating that the four had acted in the positions for six months and the law did not allow for any person to act in a position for a period longer than this. Mayisela said a mistake was allowed to happen when the managers, after having acted for six months, had their contracts extended for another six months. “You cannot give them another six months because that would extend to a year. After the six months, they were supposed to act for a period of not more than two months. Unfortunately, I was not in office when they were given a further six months,” he stated. When reached for comment on how Magagula had been allowed to continue in the position of Acting News Editor yet the others had been removed, Mayisela said the situations were different. “Patience is not acting in a position that is vacant; there is a substantive person in that position. She is not like the four others who were acting in positions that are vacant. That is the difference,” Mayisela said.

He said if one was appointed to act in a position that had a substantive person, then that individual could hold that position for as long as the substantive one was away. “In this case, the substantive person is away on study leave and he is being paid for that position. He is away on paid study leave. For example, I can act in the position of CEO for even a year or more if he is away but I cannot do so if the position is vacant, that’s impossible,” the HR head stated.

making an issue

Mayisela wondered why there were some employees who were making an issue of Magagula being allowed to continue as Acting News Editor. “These people should just give us a break. This is human resource issue. Why don’t they approach us if they have a problem? There are procedures to be followed if one has a grievance, not to run to the media,” he stated. 

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: