Africa-Press – Eswatini. We know nothing about the four per cent salary adjustment; all we want is the implementation of phase II salary restructuring exercise by the end of November.”
These sentiments were shared by Constable Mfanzile Dlamini yesterday during a press conference held at the Manzini Caritas Centre.
The press conference was succeeded by a meeting, which was held by the junior officers at the same venue.
Dlamini said as junior officers, they held the meeting to voice out their grievances which they encountered in their line of work ranging from their welfare and salary increment.
According to Dlamini, as junior officers they were aggrieved and saddened by the fact that Minister of Public Service, Mabulala Maseko, announced to the public that they had accepted the four per cent salary adjustment without consulting them.
He said they wanted to categorically state without fear or favour that they were not aware of any four per cent salary adjustment.
He pointed out that this agreement was news to them.
He said what pained them the most was that according to their assessment, the committee representing the junior officers during the signing of the agreement had sold them out in as far as the issue of salary adjustment was concerned.
Dlamini said testament to that was that the Secretary General of the Eswatini Police Staff Association, Dumsile Khumalo, had been side-lined and alienated during the negotiations.
“We want to state categorically to the minister of public service that we are discussing the implementation of phase II salary restructuring exercise of 2014.
Consultations were made and the whole process was concluded. However, only senior officers benefited from the exercise and since 2014 they have been living as beneficiaries of the exercise while, we junior officers have been left out,” he said.
Dlamini said the team that represented the junior officers during the signing of the four per cent salary adjustment was supposed to consult them as members of the Eswatini Police Staff Association before accepting the offer on their behalf.
He emphasised that the committee members of the police staff association were side-lined during the signing of the agreement and as such, they knew nothing about it and they do not agree with it.
He said all they wanted was the implementation of Phase II salary restructuring exercise for junior officers. Dlamini said it should be clear to government that there was a vast difference between the phase II salary restructuring exercise and the four per cent salary adjustment and that the two concepts meant two different things.
Implement
Dlamini said they were expecting government to implement the phase II salary restructuring exercise, which they worked hard for at the end of November.
“The phase II salary restructuring exercise is legally ours and that is non- negotiable. The minister should count us out of the four per cent salary adjustment agreement. We understand that he refers to it as a caution, however, he must take it upon himself to explain what that really means,” he said.
He said they were being shot and killed and they did not even know who their assailants were, hence they did not know if the minister was meant to caution them against their deaths.
Dlamini said they were expecting the minister to implement the phase II salary restructuring exercise at the end of November.
He said they were also expecting that during the salary review exercise all civil servants, junior police officers would also benefit from the exercise.
He said they cannot over emphasise that all they wanted was the implementation of the phase II salary restructuring exercise, which if the minister was failing to implement, they would also take action.
Implement
When asked what would happen if government fails to implement the phase II salary restructuring exercise, the secretary general of the Eswatini Police Staff Association said they would be forced to engage gear number three, which was known only to them.
The minister said he could not comment on the matter as it was between government and the police.
He did, however, mention that all he knew was that they reached a mutual agreement with the representatives of the junior police officers to sign the four per cent salary adjustment
Maseko said government made it clear that the issue of the phase II salary restructuring exercise would be concluded by a private consultant.
Meanwhile, this comes shortly after government signed a four person salary adjustment with junior police representatives and chief security officers on Tuesday.
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