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UNESWA STAFF TO BOYCOTT EXAMS, ‘VISIT’ PARLY

24/02/2024 07:07:00 Ntombi Mhlongo

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MBABANE-Following that the payment of their salaries was delayed for four days and eventually paid yesterday, employees of the financially challenged University of Eswatini (UNESWA) have resolved against taking part of the institution’s biggest activity next week.

This is the start of the examination. Instead, they have agreed in unison that they will go to Parliament with an aim to detail the crisis that has engulfed the institution and has continued for more than three years.

Worth noting is that Parliament has a big agenda scheduled for Monday and it includes the presentation of the Budget Speech by the Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg. The staff members who have taken the resolution are under the umbrella of the Association of Lecturers and Academic and Administrative Personnel (ALAAP).

In a letter issued by ALAAP Secretary General Dr Mduduzi Shongwe directed to the Registrar, Dr Salebona Simelane, the association informed the management that it had taken some resolutions at an extra-ordinary meeting held yesterday at the Commerce Lecture Theatre, Kwaluseni Campus.

According to the statement, the ALAAP members resolved that the executive committee should communicate to the institution’s management that they were not ready to participate in teaching and learning activities, including invigilating examination and thus will need a week from the day of payment of salaries.

The members said they needed the week as they will be seeking treatment and remedies for the psychological and financial stress they had endured during the time of the delayed payment of salaries. Another resolution taken by the members was that on Monday, they will march to Parliament to raise awareness of the plight of the institution.

Thirdly, the members resolved that the current management of the institution be given seven calendar days to remit all monies owed to all financial institutions which were deducted from source but never remitted. The monies, according to the statement, include remittances for medical aid. In the event the management fails, the association said the members will not continue with teaching and learning.

In the same letter, reference was made to two joint correspondences dated June 5, 2023 and March 30, 2023 which were written by the association together with the National Workers Union in Swaziland Higher Institutions (NAWUSHI) to the University Council on a vote of no confidence on the entire management.

“The current management is given seven calendar days to resign en masse, failing which, ALAAP members will not continue with teaching and learning activities under the current management,” reads part of the letter. Furthermore, the members also took a resolution that on Monday they will go to the Ministry of Education and Training and the Prime Minister’s Offices to petition government to place the institution under the administration of the aforementioned ministry immediately until a new management was in place.

When called to ascertain the authenticity of the letter and its content, Dr Shongwe confirmed that indeed it was real and that they had met and taken the resolutions as stated. Dr Shongwe was asked why they will continue to boycott the examination since they had been paid and he explained that the resolution had not changed.

“Like we stated, we need a week to recover from the psychological stress. Also, if a resolution has been taken during an extra ordinary meeting, its review has to happen through the same platform,” he stated. Efforts to obtain a comment from Simelane were not successful as his mobile cellphone number rang unanswered yesterday.

On Thursday, our sister publication, the Times of Eswatini reported that the staff had raised concerns over the upcoming students examination, as they have not received their salaries for the month.The staff members said they feared that the lack of payment may affect their ability to invigilate the exams. On Wednesday, the staff completed their third day without being paid their salaries for the month.

This followed a memorandum issued by UNESWA Registrar, Dr Salebona Simelane on Monday, stating that salaries were delayed due to a shortage of funds. Dr Simelane said efforts to address the matter were underway. Another memorandum was issued on Wednesday by Dr Simelane, informing all staff that there was a further delay in the payment of their salaries, despite their earlier anticipation that the salaries would be paid in a short space of time.

Dr Simelane stated that in the past, the chairman of the Council had, in the company of management, escalated the delay in the payment of staff salaries to higher authorities, and similarly, the same pattern had been followed in the current situation. He said the foregoing position of the university was explained by the Vice-Chancellor (VC) to the Executive Members of the Staff Unions on Tuesday.

“The University Council and management are hopeful that the matter on hand shall be resolved soon. The inconvenience caused is regretted,” Dr Simelane said. The registrar explained that this was a sensitive issue, but assured the staff members that efforts were being made to ensure that their salaries were paid. When interviewed by our sister publication on the issue, Dr Shongwe said this was unfortunate because their members had no means to travel to work, thus they decided to work from home.

The SG had previously stated that their members were psychologically affected by the non-payment of salaries as they had anticipated that they would be paid on time. Meanwhile, Students Representative Council (SRC) Deputy President, Zachariah Makama said the delay in the payments of staff salaries was also affecting students as they prepared for the upcoming exams.

Makama said students were allegedly unable to consult with the lecturers pertaining to their projects or make consultations on the exams. According to Makama, once the memorandum on salaries was issued, several lecturers did not come to work or assist them with their schoolwork. He stated that there was a need to address the financial challenges within the institution so that teaching and learning would not be disturbed.

Makama mentioned that the university was heavily reliant on government subventions, thus there was a need to seek other means to source funds, to prevent disrupting the university’s operations. It should be noted that in March last year, students became worried following a legal strike by lecturers which dragged for over four weeks.

The strike saw the employees from the Kwaluseni, Mbabane and Luyengo campuses down tools and convened at the Kwaluseni Campus to demonstrate. They parked their cars outside the Kwaluseni Campus and sat under trees, while others were doing the ‘vusela’ exercise around the university premises. As the lecturers engaged in the strike, the students became worried about the possibility of losing their semester.

The students were also worried that the semester would be extended following an earlier decision taken by the Senate that it should not, adding to their expenses and study plans. By the time the strike entered its sixth week, the students had lost half of the semester as there was is no way forward in the impasse between UNESWA management and the academic and non-academic staff members.

Days later, the management issued a memorandum whereby it communicated its intention not to pay academic and non-academic staff members. The memo further stated that the decision was taken in accordance with Section 87 subsection 3 of the Industrial Relations Act of 2000. The impasse reared its ugly head again in October and this time, government 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 held an urgent meeting on the week of the graduation, after they were paid two-thirds (70 per cent) of their salaries. 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 sufficient funds in the university coffers sufficient funds in the university coffers.

Following the intervention by government, the graduation ceremony was held on October 21, 2023 and as per tradition, was blessed by the presence of His Majesty King Mswati III who constitutionally is the Chancellor of the institution. UNESWA has over 350 lecturers in the university payroll and these include academic and non-academic ones.