DC for locking Cabinet gate Engage officers and stop cornering us - MPs
MBABANE – Some Members of Parliament (MPs) have raised concerns about the manner in which government is dealing with the junior officers issue.
The legislators said government was not giving the issue of the Phase II salary restructuring the urgency it deserved. They noted that it was wrong from the onset to leave them out of the implementation, but that government should have halted the implementation of the restructuring process if it did not have enough money. The legislators said giving money and leaving others behind had created a division in the police service.
Adding, the legislators wondered how the four per cent cushion was going to ease the tension. Instead, they said they foresaw the four per cent dividing civil servants because that would mean the State security officers would receive seven per cent in one financial year.
Frustrating
Gilgal MP Kenneth Fakudze said government was not negotiating in good faith with the officers as it should have met them half way, instead of giving them the runaround. He said frustrating people had never been a solution. “It is unfair to make them wait while others are enjoying the same benefits that accrued from the
A table showing how the four per cent will change salaries of junior officers from REPS.
Post/Title
Constable
LIKELY SALARIES AFTER 4% INCREMENT
Notch
1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1
2 3 4 5 6 5
1 2 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 1 2 3 4
Current salary
E9 048.75 E9 321. 08 E9 599.75 E9 887.75 E10 184.83 E10 490.08 E10 797.08 E11 129.00 E11 462.75 E11 806.83 E12 180.58 E12 545.92 E12 922.42 E13 310.08 E13 709.17 E14 120.25 E189 186 E15 765.50 E16 252.58 E16 577.58 E16 919.42 E17 259.00 E17 828.25 E18 363.00 E21 261.42 E21 931.75 E22 556 E26 717.75 E27 519.33 E28 344.92 E29 195.33
Increment
E361.95 E372.84 E383.99 E395.31 E407.39 E419.60 E431.88 E445.16 E458.51 E472.27 E487.22 E501.84 E516.90 E532.40 E548.37 E564.81 E7 567.44 E630.62 E650.14 E663.10 E676.78 E692.36 E713.13 E734.52 E850.46 E877.27 E902.24 E1 068.71 E1 100.77 E1 133.80 E1 167.81
Back pay
E3 617.50 E3 728.40 E3 839.90 E3 955.10 E4 073.93 E4 196.000 E4 318.80 E4 451.60 E4 585.10 E4 722.70 E4 872.20 E5 018.40 E5 169.00 E5 324.00 E5 483.70 E5 648.10 E6 306.20
E6 501.40 E6 631.00 E6 767.80 E6 923.60 E7 131.30 E7 345.20 E8 504.60 E8 772.70 E9 022.40 E10 687.10 E11 007.70 E11 338.00 E11 678.10
New salary
E9 410.70 E9 693.93 E9 983.74 E10 283.26 E10 592.23 E11 659.69 E12 228.97 E11 574.16 E11 949.26 E12 279.11 E12 667.81 E13 047.75 E13 439.31 E13 842.49 E14 257.53 E14 685.06 E196 753.44 E16 396.12 E16 902.67 E17 340.69 E17 596.19 E18 001.36 E18 541.38 E19 097.52 E22 111.87 E22 809.02 E23 458.24 E27 786.46 E28 711.84 E29 478.71 E30 363.15 they should leave the four per cent at the bank, as irresponsible. He said the minister’s statement showed that government was not negotiating in good faith, in finding common ground with the aggrieved officers.
Gege MP Musa Kunene said he strongly believed that the government, together with the officers, should sit at a roundtable and not take decisions based on social media. He said if government engaged the officers honestly, it would be able to prove to them that the country was in a fiscal crises.
Nkhaba MP Zakhele Magongo also shared the same sentiments and urged government to engage the officers.
Budget
The legislators said they were of the view that government was cornering the officers and wanted to make them look bad to the entire civil servants. They said if they passed the supplementary budget, which had the four per cent cushion, they would be hated.
The MPs said already the officers were not consulted about the cushion and they were aggrieved. Therefore, if the MPs passed the supplementary budget, which might be debated around December, they would look like they were siding with government and delaying the implementation of the restructuring.
Meanwhile, if they rejected it they would also be blamed for dividing the entire work force.