Some want CFO transferred to another dept

MANZINI - Some concerned firefighters want government to transfer the Chief Fire Officer (CFO), Luke Lushaba, to another department.

The firefighters said this when they were making constitutions on what issues should be included in their petition, which they would deliver to various departments on Wednesday. They said according to their analysis, there were things which the CFO allegedly and purportedly tarnished the reputation of the organisation. For example, they said the much questioned recent recruitment exercise, was one of the things that happened under his leadership and affected the department. “Before this recruitment exercise, people showed respect when they came across (us) firefighters wearing a uniform, but now, the make a mockery of us. They even ask us in public if we participated in process of physical exercises before being recruited,” they alleged.

As such, they instructed their committee and NAPSAWU to include their plea of having the chief fire officer transferred to a different government department, like Ministry of Agriculture. They highlighted that the chief fire officer retired in March 2023, but he came back to work and later on they received a minute from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, which informed them that he was rehired on contract basis and he got a two-year contract. Therefore, they said their wish was to see him finishing the remaining months of his contract, working under a different government department. The firefighters also accused the chief fire officer of leaving his deputy (key personnel of the fire sector management structure) when having meetings with the union or committee. Instead, they alleged that he allegedly used to bring with an unknown personal assistant or recording secretary. According to their claims, sometimes the chief fire officer comes with an ordinary firefighter as his personal assistant or recording secretary.

On the other hand, ENFRES Public Relations Officer Mandla Dlamini, said management has not received any complaints from the workers about the chief fire officer. He said they (workers) have never engaged management about the matter. Again, he highlighted that even if there were some complaints, there were laid down procedures on how to report them to management or relevant structures. On top of that, he said a worker could not decide who government should transfer.