Africa-Press – Eswatini. The Minister of Education and Training Owen Nxumalo has quickly intervened and stopped a purported march to parliament by UNESWA staff.
The march would have coincided with the budget speech expected to be delivered by Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg in Parliament tomorrow. Employees of the university have a number of grievances that they need addressed, hence the decision to march.
Threatened
The employees had threatened to stop teaching and learning activities next week, including invigilating examinations if their demands were not met.
The minister of education called the Association of Lecturers, Academic and Administrative Personnel (ALAAP) and the National Workers Union of Swaziland Higher Institutions (NAWUSHI) to an urgent meeting which was held at the ministry’s boardroom.
The parties engaged in discussions and eventually reached an amicable solution. The solution was that there will be a committee that will be assigned to conduct an assesment at UNESWA.
The minister when updating the media after the meeting said they have heard that the aggrieved UNESWA employees were thinking of marching to parliament to raise the plight of the university through picketing.
He said they decided to engaged the aggrieved parties as a ministry not because they were pushed by the purported picketing but because they wanted to get to the bottom of the matter and come up with solutions.
Agreements
One of the agreements reached yesterday was that a task team should be set up that will do an assessment of the situation at UNESWA.
“They will be looking at what are the problems faced by UNESWA and how the institution can be resolved,” the minister stated.
He said it was not a common occurrence for civil servants not to get paid but now it was looking like government was not issuing out funds to rescue the university yet there are subventions. Nxumalo made it clear that this is not an investigation but an assessment.
ALAAP Chairperson Sibusiso Nhlabatsi appreciated that the minister has shown interest in addressing the matter. He said it was embarrassing that as lecturers they are not paid on time every month end.
Resolution
Nhlabatsi said it was true that there was a resolution that they march to parliament tomorrow.
He said after yesterday’s discussions they would communicate with membership and report back because they are the ones who took the resolution.
NAWUSHI Chairperson Sikelela Ngwenya urged the minister to also consider dealing with issues affecting all tertiary institutions such as SANU, IDM, Christian Medical Univeristy, Limkokwing University of Creative Technology and others.
Ngwenya said it was not only UNESWA that has challenges but the state of tertiary institutions in the country as a whole wasalarming.
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