Africa-Press – Eswatini. Junior security forces’ officers never filed an appeal about their Phase II of the restructuring exercise of 2014, thus their matter is not part of the E65m appeals’ report.
This was revealed by the Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Public Service, Sipho Tsabedze.
He gave this explanation after some of the junior officers said they expected the appeals report to address the issue of Phase II because government, through the Ministry of Finance, said the E65m which government had set aside for appeals, would cover all civil servants, including security officers.
However, when the PS was contacted about the junior officers’ perceptions, he said the Appeals Board only looked at appeals that were brought forward to government. Again, he said the issue of junior officers’ Phase II was dealt with separately and it was agreed that it would be addressed by the upcoming salary review exercise.
Negotiations
On the other hand, Eswatini Correctional Services Staff Association (ECOSSA) President Simiso Ginindza said after the statement that was made by the Ministry of Finance about the E65m, they asked for clarity from government during the negotiations. To be specific, he said they asked if there was an appeal that was filed regarding Phase II and the response they got was to the negative.
“Government said since no appeal was filed, the issue of Phase II will be addressed by the salary review exercise,” the president said. On the other hand, the Royal Eswatini Police Staff Association (REPOSA) Secretary General Dumisile Khumalo said they were keen to see what the appeals’ report contained about them. However, she said they did not expect much from government.
“What we need to do is to go back to the drawing board to strategise on how we can push the matter because currently, we cannot deliver petitions to the relevant structures because of the interim order, which was issued pending finalisation of the matter in court – where the employer applied for an interdict, interdicting us from marching to deliver petitions,” Khumalo said.
Report
It is worth noting that last week, at the Joint Negotiations Forum (JNF), the Government Negotiation Team (GNT) announced that the appeals’ report had been finalised. Mainly the appeals’ report covers civil servants appeals for the 2016 salary review exercise.
Again, junior officers from the country’s three security and armed forces; Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS), His Majesty’s Correctional Services (HMCS) and Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force (UEDF), were awarded four per cent salary cushion. This followed another salary adjustment of three per cent plus a once-off payment of a per cent of their annual salary – which was cost-of-living adjustment (CoLA) for all civil servants.
On another note, the issue of Phase II emanates from Circular No.2 of 2014 which was issued by the Ministry of Public Service on July 7, 2014 for the implementation of Phase 1 of the Restructuring Programme for REPS and HMCS. Phase II was supposed to be implemented at a later stage, but that did not happen.
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