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CIVIL SERVANTS: WE WON’T STOP PARTICIPATING IN POLITICS

13/12/2021 08:45:00 BY SIBUSISO ZWANE

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MANZINI – “Not this time around and not ever, government must just forget!”

This is what a majority of civil servants are saying regarding government’s move to ensure that they do not participate in political issues and activities, mainly being members of political parties. They say they are prepared to fight tooth and nail to ensure that they enjoy their constitutional rights; freedom of speech and assembly. In fact, they said they would not allow government to stop them from participating in political issues and activities as per its agenda, which it had tabled to unions under the banner of public sector associations (PSAs), during their ongoing bilateral meetings, which started a fortnight ago.

They said the agenda had three items; review of collective agreements between the unions and government, discuss the participation of civil servants in politics - mainly political parties and the conversion of the Eswatini National Provident Fund (ENPF) into a national public pension. The four unions under the banner of PSAs are; the National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU), Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU), which government also refers to as Swaziland Nurses Association (SNA), and the Swaziland National Government Accounting Personnel (SNAGAP).

Some leaders of the aforementioned associations revealed that by including the issue of participation of civil servants in politics, government was on a move to try and invoke the Public Service Act of 2018. They said this Act had a section which prohibited civil servants from participating in politics, mainly being members of political parties. However, they said in their analysis, they found that this move was aimed at compromising the envisaged process of the anticipated all-inclusive national dialogue. Therefore, they said as per the country’s Constitution of 2005, which was the supreme law; they had freedom of speech and association.

According to their understanding and analysis of the Constitution, they said its supremacy clause stated that it superseded any other conflicting laws. Therefore, they argued that since the Public Service Act of 2018 was in conflict with the Constitution in terms of freedom of speech and assembly, the former took precedence over the latter. When asked what does the move by government mean to the anticipated all-inclusive dialogue, Sikelela Dlamini, the Secretary General of SNAT, said it would surely compromise the envisaged negotiation process for the national dialogue. He said this was because civil servants were members of the society as well and they had to partake in the dialogue as members of their various political organisations.

Blunder

“The promulgation of the Public Service Act of 2018 was a great legislative blunder by government,” he said. He said it was unfortunate that as public servants, they had submitted against the inclusion of such clauses (which will be against the Constitution). He said they made the submissions while the Act was at a Bill’s stage, but government allegedly decided not to implement their recommendations. He emphasised that the clause on political affiliation in the Act was violating the inalienable rights to freedom of association as members of society. Again, he said it was also against Convention no 87 of Freedom of Association and Assembly.

Convention 87 is an International Labour Organisation (ILO) convention of 1948. It is also referred to as Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention. Thereafter, he said as SNAT, they were currently building capacity to understand and know their rights. On the same note, SWADNU Secretary General Mayibongwe Masangane said the action taken by government to try to prohibit them from partaking in political activities was a gross violation of their rights. He said this was because they would be barred from contributing in paving their own future. “We need to be part to the dialogue,” Masangane said.

Thereafter, the unionist said the problem was that government allowed workers to participate in politics that supported only the current political order, Tinkhundla System of government. Again, he said it was unfortunate that the country had other laws that were totally against the Supreme law of the land. He said they believed that government should establish its laws and general orders in accordance with the Constitution. Therefore, he said as a union, together with their allies, they would do all and everything to defend their rights. He said this could be done by engaging in campaigns, protest actions and testing the courts when the need arose.

Even NAPSAWU said it referred the matter of participation of civil servants in politics to the Joint Negotiation Forum (JNF) because they wanted to address it with the other public sector associations. Meanwhile, SNAGAP President Eric Ndlovu said as a union, they would ask not to comment until they got a draft of the matter from government. It is worth noting that so far, NAPSAWU and SWADNU met with government over the matter but it was not discussed. SWADNU asked that its concerns should be addressed first, while NAPSAWU said it should be discussed at the JNF. Meanwhile, SNAGAP said it would wait for government to table a draft of the matter. On the other hand, bilateral with SNAT had been postponed twice.