Africa-Press – Eswatini. The delivery of a petition by lowly ranked personnel from the correctional services and police Service has compelled government to raise money promptly to address their concerns.
This is subsequent to the events of last Tuesday, wherein a novel act in the Kingdom of Eswatini took place. Junior officers of the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) and His Majesty’s Correctional Services (HMCS) delivered a petition to Cabinet offices. They were calling for government to implement the protracted Phase II of the salary restructuring exercise, which they have been anticipating since 2014. Their act drew scorn from their leaders in the National Commissioner (NATCOM) of Police, William Tsitsibala Dlamini and also the Commissioner General (COMGEN) of HMCS, Phindile Lomakhosi Dlamini, as both leaders said such an act was deviant from officers of both institutions. As the lowly ranked officers delivered their petition, it was gathered that Cabinet made the issue its priority as it was delivered during their sittings.
Impeccable sources claimed that it was agreed that the issue should be dealt with rapidly and money had to be raised in order to avert any repercussions that may arise when the law enforcers rebelled. The impeccable sources claimed that it was discussed that the law enforcers should be offered the money in November, if possible in order to salvage the situation.
It was gathered that the challenge was that the supplementary budget had already been passed in Parliament and seeking to have allocated within it would be futile. This move by Cabinet is seemingly a change of heart from the commitment that had been made earlier by government which said the lowly ranked officers would benefit from the E65 million set aside for appeals in the civil service.
The E65 million was announced by the Minister of Finance, Neal Rijkenberg, in the Appropriations Act No. 1 of 2023, which he further affirmed when the officers bemoaned that they were being informed that there was no money to implement Phase II of the restructuring exercise. The minister said the law enforcers, like all other civil servants, would benefit from the E65 million, which was set aside for appeals. In light of the developments, which according to impeccable sources have resulted in Cabinet having to raise the money in the upcoming weeks, Rijkenberg was sought for comment.
He was asked if government was to award the law enforcers the money they were seeking and how his ministry would raise it. Rijkenberg was also asked what would be the timeframes and also if it was an option to redirect certain budgets in order to deal with the threat set to compromise national security. Lastly, the minister was asked if the E65 million that was set aside for appeals, were still an option to deal with the issue. Rijkenberg said: “Government is collectively looking into the matter and is seeking solutions.” The minister said the Mabulala Maseko-led Ministry of Public Service was best suited to answer the questions. Rijkenberg explained that the E65 million was set for the 2016 Salary Review Appeals. He said the Ministry of Public Service would know best on whether there would be a remainder in this amount or if they needed financial assistance.
It is worth noting that some ministries seek the intervention of government when in need to fund pressing issues. This is done through the supplementary budget, which in this financial year accommodated the increment of scholarships by E200 million. Also, government may use alternatives such as seeking a loan to raise the money sought by junior officers. This route would take time as it has to go through Parliament. Another option would be to use government bonds, which could also take a period in excess of three months. Meanwhile, the minister of Public Service, was sent a questionnaire seeking to establish what plans his ministry had to deal with this issue of junior officers, as they were not happy with waiting for the consultant assigned to review salaries and conditions of work in the civil service.
Maseko was also asked if there was anything that his ministry, collectively working with Cabinet, may offer to calm what could be a setback in the quest for peace in the country.
Also, he was asked if the Ministry of Public Service had assessed if local law enforcers in the police and Correctional Services were paid at par or lower than other Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries. If yes, he was asked what were the results and if no, why was such an assessment not engaged on, as it would guide the ministry in dealing with the current challenge.
In July 7, 2014, the Ministry of Public Service issued Circular No.2 of 2014 for the implementation of Phase I of the Restructuring Programme for the REPS and HMCS. The rationale behind the restructuring exercise was primarily driven by a desire to re-align and re-engineer the structural make-up of both services so that they could be capacitated to deal decisively with emerging safety and security threats in a rapidly changing and dynamic operational terrain. It was also to ensure alignment of operational structures and systems with other police and correctional services within the SADC Region. This was structured to be in two phases; Phase I, which covered the strategic levels of the two services and Phase II, being the tactical layer. Phase I was implemented, Phase II was not.
In that regard, the joint task team highlighted in its report that the non-implementation of the second phase had the unfortunate consequence of sowing seeds of polarisation within the two security forces, which was not an ideal scenario for organisations entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining law and order in society. It said such a responsibility makes it imperative that intra-organisational relations across the ranks were kept as amicable and as harmonious as they could possibly be.
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