Leave of absence for civil servants
MBABANE – Public officers who want to contest the national general election will now be required to take leave of absence from work.
All along, the public officers have had to provide the election officials with a consent letter from the employer.
Section 33(1) (e) of the Elections Act, in ‘declaration of candidate duly nominated for election’, states that the presiding officer has to deliver to the returning officer a subject to Subsection (6), consent letter from employer, in the case of a public officer, and after examining the documents and finding them satisfactory, shall declare the candidate duly nominated, unless proof is given to the satisfaction of the returning officer of the candidate’s death, withdrawal or disqualification. Subsection (6) of the Act states that the employer shall cancel the consent letter required under subsection (1)(e), where the public officer is not successful in the election and such cancellation of leave of absence shall have effect from the date of losing the election.
AMENDMENTS
After the proposed amendments, the Act is envisaged to read as follows in Section 33(1) (e) “In the case of a public officer, subject to Subsection (6), proof of leave of absence with or without such terms and conditions as may be determined by the employment relationship.”
There will then be a new paragraph (Section 33(1)(f) that will cater for private officers, and it will read: “In the case of a private officer, a consent letter with such terms and conditions as may be determined by the employment relationship.” There will also be a new Subsection (6), which will read: “The employer shall, where the employee is not successful in the election process, cancel – the leave of absence in case of a public officer; and consent letter in the case of a private officer.” This will lead to Section 33(7) to read: “The employer shall not issue a leave of absence more than once in relation to the same public officer who has had a term of election in any category under this Act.”