MBABANE – They should not act surprised!
Government has dismissed claims that the employer is deviating from the initial agreement. The Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service, who is also the Chairperson of the Joint Negotiation Forum (JNF), Mthunzi Shabangu, said:
“When negotiating the staggered implementation of the Salary Review Report, as outlined in Paragraph 12 of the signed Collective Agreement between the PSUs and the Government Negotiating Team (GNT), government was under the impression that the parties were of the same mind. Since the salary review implementation will cover two financial years, the issue of notching would not feature during these two years, but would instead commence in April 2027.”
Shabangu further explained that notching, in itself, is a salary increment, and government could not have anticipated that workers would expect a notching increment even before the full implementation of the increments contained in the salary review report.
He said this after Public Sector Unions (PSUs), through their Chairperson, Mbongwa Dlamini, engaged civil servants on Monday, stating that the General Orders clearly stipulate that salaries must notch up every 12 months.
“There is no agreement that can be signed to contradict what is in the General Orders, as that has become law,” he said.
Dlamini accused government of deliberately delaying the process and taking advantage of workers’ patience.
“Some people cannot differentiate between being good (kulunga) and being forgetful (nekulibala). Only a fool would give up their right,” he said.
Meanwhile, the leadership of the PSUs communicated that civil servants would march to the Ministry of Public Service and Cabinet on Monday to deliver petitions regarding the suspended implementation of the notching exercise.
The notching exercise was expected to give all public servants a slight salary increment, but government stated that there would be no notching until April 2027.
At a press conference held at the SNAT Centre yesterday, leaders of the four Public Sector Unions (PSUs) announced that the only available alternative for now is to apply pressure on government through a march.
The unions are the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU), Swaziland National Association of Government Accounting Personnel (SNAGAP), and the National Public Servants and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU).
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Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service, Mthunzi Shabangu. (Courtesy pic)