No salary increase for junior cops, warders, but …
MBABANE – The Minister of Public Service, Mabulala Maseko, yesterday disclosed that there would be no Phase Two salary upgrade for junior officers but all appeals would be handled by an independent consultant.
The minister said all salary appeals and misses would be addressed by the independent consultant, which would be given 12 months to complete the exercise.
He pointed out that the consultant would handle all appeals for all public servants, not just the security forces alone.
His Majesty’s Correctional Services (HMC) Commissioner General Phindile Lomakhosini Dlamini, Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) National Commissioner (NATCOM) William Tsitsibala Dlamini and the leaders of the two staff associations were present during the press conference held at the Ministry of Public Service yesterday.
“The nation will recall that government issued a statement on the September 9, 2022 regarding the discontentment among officers within the security forces arising out of the restructuring exercise that was carried out by government in 2014,” said the minister.
In the statement referred to above, it was stated that engagements on the complaints had already begun and that any progress made would be reported in due course.
“Since then, a number of meetings have been held with the security chiefs and the staff associations to discuss the issue and the discussions have now been concluded,” the minister said.
Giving a background of the issue, he narrated that in 2014, government made a policy decision to restructure the organisational structures of HMCS and that of the REPS to align them with that of the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force (UEDF) and that of other similar security forces within the SADC region.
CIRCULAR
He said a circular implementing phase one of the restructuring exercise was issued in 2014 and it stated that phase two would follow.
The minister said an attempt was made in 2015 to implement phase two of the restructuring exercise, however, a decision was then made to discontinue the implementation at the time a consultant was already working on reviewing salaries for all public servants, whose report was issued in 2016.
According to the minister, government was of the view that all disparities would be addressed by that salary review exercise.
“Unfortunately, that decision was never communicated to the Heads of Security Forces. In 2021, the two security forces, being: His Majesty’s Correctional Services and the Royal Eswatini Police Services made recommendations on how phase two of the restructuring exercise should be implemented, as they were not aware that a decision had already been made that phase two was no longer to be implemented,” Maseko explained.
The minister stated that the recommendations from the two security forces raised discontentment among the junior officers, which necessitated the engagements with the parties.
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Minister Maseko said government had since made decisions and the report of the security chiefs, with recommendations on how phase two of the restructuring exercise should be implemented, will not be taken into consideration as a decision was made way back in 2015 that phase two would no longer be implemented.
“All concerns that may arise as a result of the implementation of phase one of the restructuring exercise will be referred to the consultant who will be reviewing salaries and terms and conditions of all civil servants to be engaged soon,” the minister said.
He, however, stated that staff associations would be given an opportunity to make their representations to the consultant, a process he said was expected to be completed within the next 12 months.
This comes after the Police Staff Association (PSA) executive said it would not engage in a strike action due to the process published in our sister publication the Times of Eswatini yesterday.
This was after the executive met with the REPS executive, led by the NATCOM.
During the meeting, the staff association quelled any fears among members of the public that junior police officers would engage in a strike action over the issue of Phase II of the Restructuring Exercise.
PSA Chairperson Sergeant Isaac ‘Kaira’ Lukhele confirmed that they held a fruitful meeting with the NATCOM’s office.
Lukhele stated that they assured the NATCOM that there was no intention by the junior officers to engage in a ‘go-slow strike action’.
Meanwhile, Dlamini said the chairperson mentioned that the allegations of the strike action by members of the police service that were circulating on social media platforms were far from the truth and unfounded as officers remained loyal to the oath of office.