GOVT ACTS SWIFTLY TO DEFUSE GRADUATION BOYCOTT THREAT

MBABANE – Swift action.

The Government of Eswatini was forced to act swiftly in mitigating a graduation boycott resolution taken by the lecturers, following a salary payment dispute with management. The lecturers had an urgent meeting yesterday morning where they took a resolution to boycott the ceremony, after they were paid two-thirds (70 per cent) of their salaries on Thursday. The graduation ceremony today, as per tradition, is expected to be blessed by the presence of His Majesty King Mswati III.

When effecting the two-thirds payment, the UNESWA management had indicated to the union representing the lecturers that this was necessitated by a lack of sufficient funds in the university coffers. These sentiments were confirmed by UNESWA Registrar Doctor Salebona Simelane in an earlier interview with the Eswatini News, just a few hours before management decided to pay the salaries in full. Sensing that this boycott resolution was likely to throw the ceremony into disarray, the 30 per cent balance of the salaries was quickly credited to the lecturers’ bank accounts yesterday afternoon at around 4pm. However, only lecturers using FNB bank accounts received the balance of their salaries, while the rest are likely to get their money on Monday at the latest.       

 Proceedings

However, information gathered is that, despite getting the 30 per cent payment, the lecturers, through their union, the Association of Lecturers, Academic and Administrative Personnel (ALAAP), have instructed their lawyers to institute legal proceedings against the university for the decision to deduct monies from their salaries without consent. ALAAP Secretary General Mduduzi Shongwe confirmed these developments. He said while they appreciated that the university eventually relented by paying the remainder of their salaries, they were still not happy with the way the issue was handled in the first place.

“We were called to a meeting by the university management on Thursday, where they informed us that they could only afford to pay us 70 per cent of our salaries due to lack of funds. We responded that they should wait until we report back to our members but this never happened because hardly two hours after our meeting, the salaries, which were short of the 30 per cent, were still credited into our accounts. We were very surprised by this move and felt disrespected. We then had a meeting from 10am this morning (yesterday), where the lecturers took a resolution to boycott the graduation until their salaries were paid in full. To our surprise again, the remaining 30 per cent of the salaries was credited to our accounts later this afternoon,” Shongwe said.

Deducting

Adding, he stated: “Given how our monies were deducted, a decision was taken by the members that we instruct our lawyers to take the legal route against government. This is meant to set precedence so that in future, the university is not found deducting monies from our salaries without consent.”
Asked if the boycott resolution would now reverse given that their salaries had since been paid in full, Shongwe could not give a definite answer.

“That is not a decision for the union to make. We have to respect that members took a resolution to boycott the graduation and it should be up to them to reserve that individually. The tricky part is that not all of us have received the 30 per cent payment but only those using FNB accounts benefitted. The motivation behind the decision to boycott the graduation was the fact that members would not have transport to travel to and from the graduation ceremony. So, even now, some members still do not have the money to attend the ceremony. As a union, we feel the decision, whether to attend or not should now rest on the individual,” Shongwe said.

The UNESWA registrar was said to be locked in a meeting when efforts to get hold of him for a comment on the latest developments were made, even though he had confirmed in the earlier interview that the university had trouble paying the salaries in full. “It is true that the university could only pay lecturers 70 per cent of their salaries due to budgetary constraints. This was not done intentionally to undermine them, but our financial situation compelled us to take that route. We are working around the clock to ensure that they get the remainder of their salaries,” Simelane said at the time.

Disagreement

This is not the first time the UNESWA lecturers and management have been involved in disagreement on the issue of salaries, as recently, they engaged in a strike in a bid to force increment in their salaries. The strike action lasted for over a week and disrupted classes in the process.
Some of the lecturers interviewed confirmed receiving the balance of their salaries, but declined to have their identities revealed for professional reasons. They however indicated that they were undecided on whether or not to attend the graduation ceremony today. UNESWA has over 350 lecturers in the university payroll and these include academic and non-academic ones.

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