‹˜‹Ž•‡”˜ƒ–•ƒ†˜‹•‡†‘––‘‰‘–‘™‘”‘

MANZINI – Civil servants should not dare set foot at work on Monday, says the Public Sector Unions (PSUs) of Swaziland leaders.

Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) President Mbongwa Dlamini advised teachers not to report for work, following threats circulating in various social media platforms.

He said this in a live-feed updating civil servants on the joint negotiation forum (JNF) and it was broadcast on the union’s social media page – The SNAT Platform. Dlamini said they took the threats made by a certain commander calling for action after 14 days seriously. It has been gathered that the threats insinuate that teachers should not set foot in schools in order to be safe.

Meanwhile, Dlamini in his address, advised teachers that they should apply Section 18 (2) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act No. 9 of 2001.

Section 18 (2) of the Act says: “An employee shall have a right to remove himself or herself from danger when such a worker has reasonable justification to believe there is imminent and serious risk to his/ her safety and health.” He said they should do this as the union looked into their safety and already a letter had been sent to the Ministry of Education and Training, advising the ministry of the intended move. The SNAT president further expressed hope that government would assist them as they tried to ensure that their members were safe. “Those who will go to work will be on their own as the union will not be able to assist them,” he said.

Dlamini said the position of the union was that it was not safe to report for work and he reminded the viewers of their page that in the past, there were teachers who lost their property. He insisted that until their safety was guaranteed, they should be safe.

Received

On the other hand, Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Education and Training Bhekithemba Gama, said he had not yet received the letter from the union. Gama said they were not even aware of what the union was referring to. When sought for clarity on what should happen if the teachers, in fear for their safety, decided not to report for work, given the purported threats, Gama said: “I shall request head teachers to issue me a list of the teachers who shall not report for work so that the no-work, no-pay rule will be effected.”

The PS insisted that the ministry was not aware of the issues that were being raised by SNAT and, therefore, the employer was expecting teachers to be at work. On the other hand, Swaziland National Association of Government Accounting Personnel (SNAGAP) President Dumile Dlamini advised