PERCY’S RESPONSES ON PSAS IRK MPS

LOBAMBA – Members of Parliament (MPs) are seemingly irked by the responses from Government Spokesperson Percy Simelane when dealing with the issue of the public sector associations (PSAs).

The PSAs had reiterated their stance regarding the intended strike action of the cost-of-living adjustment (CoLA) and said they invited others from the neighbouring South Africa, including students, to join the strike action and engage in border blockades. In response, government, through Simelane issued a statement to the effect that as a matter of principle, government “does not respond to illogical and populist utterances from people seeking relevance but will not shy away from stating facts on issues of national interest.”

Simelane further said the statement released by the PM was a government position and stood by it. “No amount of insinuations and insults will help government afford a cost-of-living adjustment for civil servants in the current financial year. It is for this reason that government has availed herself to all social partners to bring forward their ideas on how to remedy the current fiscal constraints,” he had said in part. First to address the issue was Deputy Speaker Matsanjeni North MP Phila Buthelezi, who said there was an issue with the government spokesperson.

Personalise

Buthelezi advised that government should not personalise issues. He highlighted that it seemed as if government had singled out individuals and was counter-attacking them instead of dealing with associations as a whole. Buthelezi cited that the manner in which government had responded was not ideal and said it should not stoop that low. He said matters such as this one should be addressed before they got political. In the same breath, Manzini North MP Macford Sibandze expressed his concern on the Simelane’s perspective. Sibandze said the statement was not good coming from the government spokesperson as it would be interpreted differently when it reached the affected parties. Lutfo Dlamini, the Ndzingeni MP, reiterated that there had been much mudslinging. Lutfo stated that the government spokesperson should be mature in handling such issues. He said there were seven days left before the proposed PSAs strike and these would be enough to do something.

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