5 SIYAKHULA TEACHERS NOT PAID, RESIGN

MBABANE – Five teachers have resigned with immediate effect at Siyakhula Primary School due to non-payment of salaries.

The distraught teachers have not been paid for close to six months and have been struggling to pay rent and service their loans, among other things.

Those that are still with the school are also unhappy as they have claimed to be swimming in debt.

Siyakhula is a private school situated at Sidwashini in Mbabane and is among the top performers in the country in Grade VII.

Victimisation 

Narrating their ordeal during an interview with this publication, the teachers, who spoke on condition of anonymity in fear of victimisation, said they were drowning in debt and could hardly afford to feed their families. 

According to the teachers, the school wrote letters for them to present to the banks and furniture shops they owed but they (letters) were rejected by their creditors. 

“This is really a tough situation that we are faced with, especially because we have to conduct online learning for the pupils. 

This requires us to come to the school and record videos which we share through WhatsApp with the pupils,” stated the teachers. They claimed that they were paid E500 twice in July and September.  They also claimed that Grade VII teachers were offered transport money each week which they ended up spending on basic commodities, including food. 

Further, they noted that even if things could go back to normal, it would take time for them to recover as the money would be used to pay their debts which included unserviced loans, which had been accumulated interests.  

Responding, the Director of the school Elliot Gamedze said he was devastated that government had not been able to open the schools in October.

Gamedze said the current situation was a first-of-its kind in living memory for government to close schools for over 11 months of the year. 

He noted that they tried seeking assistance from the bank but failed. 

The director said the school had a very low enrolment, with close to 300 pupils. This, he said, could hardly sustain the school. He stated that he was using his own pension money to provide the teachers with bus fares for them to go to school.

Gamedze said he last paid the teachers this month when they were given about half of their salaries, which ranged from E3 000, while the support staff received around E1 500.

He said they had no control over the state of affairs, adding that they applied for an overdraft with their bank, and used those funds to pay teachers’ salaries from January to March as parents had not paid fees. 

He said parents had only paid about 30 per cent which was also used to pay for utility services at the school. 

Parents 

Gamedze said there was no way they could force parents to pay as their children were at home. 

Furthermore, he said they had hoped that all classes would reopen within a month or two, which had not been the case due to the surging COVID-19 cases at that time. 

“We then initiated the online learning, thinking that parents would pay but they have not.”

Meanwhile, he said following the reopening of Grade VIIs, they could not run the school as they had 30 pupils. 

He said although they were given a ‘holiday’ not to service their loans, they still had to pay the bank when things normalised. 

Gamedze said they were given an overdraft by the bank and paid the teachers.

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