FINALLY SNAT’S MUZI MHLANGA OWNS UP TO PRESS STATEMENT

MBABANE – After an unattributed press statement in which the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) attempted to explain why their members abused Ipads and ran up a E150 000 phone bill in a four-month period, SNAT Secretary General Muzi Mhlanga has finally put his name to it.

When the press statement was published over the weekend to set the record straight, it did not have the name of the individual publishing it.
This created an uproar on social networking sites where teachers voiced their frustrations.

“There is a press statement on page 13 of the Swazi News- who wrote it? SNAT is not a human being but an organisation for teachers.
“In the press statement, uyaphika uphindze uyavuma that the phone bill was E150 000. Manje ubhalela kutsini lolobhala loku. LoMuzi lakulenhlangano yabothishela uyini?” Percy Dlamini posted.

Contacted

When Mhlanga was initially contacted by the Times of Swaziland, he adamantly refused to take any questions on the phone bill issue.
This resulted in an unsigned press statement which has been running for four days.
However, on Tuesday after intense pressure from teachers, Mhlanga eventually owned up.

Having read the published press statement, concerned teachers, who are also members of the association, reacted with fury and made it clear that they were not going to take the press statement seriously as it was not attributed to anyone.
Other teachers took to popular social networking sites to voice their frustrations following the statement.

Status

They felt that the unattributed statement was belittling the status of the association while others felt someone might have stolen the association’s letterheads.
  In Tuesday’s publication, the press statement was published with the name of the secretary general beneath it.

However, some teachers have viewed the statement as a deliberate tactic to discredit some members as well as it being a personal attack on them.
A former teacher, who called our offices yesterday, said it was apparent to everyone that everything was not alright at SNAT.

The teacher said he was also concerned about the last line of the press statement, which claimed that the former President, Sibongile Mazibuko, had not settled her phone bill contrary to her claims.
“I view this as a personal attack on the former president. I believe such matters should be dealt with internally not in the media as it disparages the significance of the association,” said the teacher.

Other teachers said they were eagerly awaiting the association’s general meeting to be held next week and they hope the issue of the iPads will be at the top of the agenda.
Some teachers have voiced their concerns and want the owing NEC members to settle their exorbitant phone bills.

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