PS TAKES EXTERNAL TRIPS WHILE ON HIS LEAVE

MBABANE – Phew, finally!  That is what an exhausted employee is expected to express in relief after his employer approved his long-awaited annual leave.
After all, he will now be able to be far from everything related to work for a while.

That was not the case with Anthony Masilela, the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs.
While Masilela’s 29-day annual leave was in effect, he had to be recalled from home three times to undertake foreign trips.
Having taken the leave on May 20, 2019, the principal secretary’s leave was disrupted thrice to undertake the official trips to Egypt, Namibia and South Africa.
He undertook the trips while Arnold Dlamini acted as the principal secretary. At the time of compiling this report, the substantive PS was still at home enjoying his holidays.
From the horse’s mouth, Masilela pointed to the fact that he was engaged while on leave by government to work.

Those were working trips, according to him. As a result, he mentioned that he was still at home because government compensated him with the 12 days he spent outside the country.
He explained that he was in Egypt for five days, and also spent the same number of days in Namibia. “I was in South Africa for only two days,” he told the Times SUNDAY.
In the public sector, it is common knowledge that foreign trips are much-sought after assignments because they pay well.

But, this is not to suggest that Masilela’s interest in those trips was in the pay as he emphatically stated that he undertook them for work purposes.
He insisted that there was no anomaly in his over-a-month annual leave.

This, he said, despite the fact that some of his subordinates complained to this publication that he was on long leave. “There’s no anomaly here. Just last week I was in Namibia,” he said.
“This has resulted in my leave being extended by five more days, bringing the total number of extended days to 12.”

Meanwhile, asked why he did not undertake the trips in his capacity as the acting principal secretary, especially since the substantive office holder was on leave, Arnold said the meetings attended by Masilela in the three countries for a combined period of 12 days were continuous.
He explained that it was common for the ministry to keep the same face in continuous meetings so that there was no new officer trying to get oriented on the gist of items on agenda or advanced discussion. Further asked if another officer would have been considered for a fresh meeting, he responded to the affirmative.

This is wrong – SNAT

Sikelela Dlamini, the Secretary General of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), expressed shock at the revelation that the substantive principal secretary was recalled from his leave to undertake external trips. He asked; “Does this really happen?”
Sikelela pointed out that knowledge sharing in government ministries was vital. He said another officer would have stood in for the substantive PS if knowledge-sharing was practised in the Ministry of Home Affairs.
In the case of Masilela, the secretary general mentioned that it appeared information centred around an individual. “We don’t need informational monopoly because government is broad,” he said.
He said many organisations, which entrusted each officer with lots of responsibilities, crumbled in the end.  “Everything comes to a standstill when this officer is not at work,” he noted.


   

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