... vow not to accept 3%

M- Members of PSUs and SASA say they would not accept three per cent CoLA because their salaries have been eroded by at least 25.03 per cent since 2017.

They said this after a trade unionist and political activist, Sibongile Mazibuko presented them with an analysis of what the inflation rate of the past five financial years meant in respect of their salaries. She had been asked by the leadership of SNAT to do the analysis for them.

Mazibuko, who is the President of Ngwane National Liberation Congress (NNLC) and a former leader of SNAT, said according to the information from the Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE), the inflation rate in the past five financial years, add up to 28.03 per cent. However, it is worth noting that in 2020/21, government offered civil servants three per cent CoLA, which was coupled by a once-off payment of one per cent of their annual salaries.

She said since government last reviewed their salaries

TABLE SHOWING YEARLY INFLATION Year Inflation rate

2017 6.22 %

2018 4.82 %

2019 2.60 %

2020 3.88 %

2021 5.23 %

2022 5.29 % on 2016, she started calculating the inflation rate from 2017, where it was 6.22 per cent.

Respectively

She said in 2018 it stood at 4.82 per cent, while in 2019 and 2020, it was 2.60 per cent and 3.87 per cent, respectively. She added that in 2021, the inflation rate was 5.23 per cent, while earlier on this year; it was at 5.29 per cent.

“It is still going up as prices for basic commodities continue, like fuel and bread, continue to go up,” she said.

In that regard, she commended the PSUs and its members for prioritising allowances and salary review over CoLA. On the same note, the SNAT leadership and SASA members shared