‘EMPLOYERS SHOULD HIKE SALARIES’

MBABANE – The never ending price hikes are hitting hard on consumers, with disposable income being compromised.
This was evident when consumers were engaged on the latest approved electricity tariff hike.

Electricity tariffs could hike by six cents come April 1, 2020 if the Eswatini Electricity Company (EEC) implements the maximum percentage approved by the Eswatini Energy Regulatory Authority (ESERA).

This is one of the many price hikes which have been implemented in the last five months including the bus fare hike, fuel hike and increased bread prices while salaries, particularly for civil servants, remain stagnant as government is yet to award the cost-of-living adjustment (CoLA), which it last awarded three years ago.

One of the interviewed people, Manqoba Makhubu, said the increases would hit very hard on the consumers.

Hikes

He asserted that the constant hikes of commodities were putting pressure on disposable income and would affect spending in the economy.
“These increases will also impact household welfare, especially among the poor, most of whom have benefitted from rural electrification schemes. It is increasingly getting hard for us to keep the lights on,” he stated. 

Makhubu said the food processing and retail sector was also likely to come under pressure and would put pressure on consumers.
He said with salaries remaining flat, the situation would only get worse and consumers would increasingly work to pay bills.

“It is getting difficult to even save really, because our disposable income cannot stretch,” he added.
Eunice Dlamini from Mbabane said government should award CoLA.

She said every employer should increase workers’ salaries so that they could manage to continue living by matching these hikes.
“No worker should earn below E3500 per month, whether it’s the industrial site or anywhere,” she said.

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