PAY CUT COULD CAUSE ‘SWAZI UPRISING’

Jan Sithole, the former Secretary General of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions, says there could be an uprising if public service salaries are cut.

Swaziland is broke and the Swazi Government wants to cut salaries by 10 percent, even though the trade unions are against this.

Sithole, speaking at a conference organised by the Centre for Human Rights, said there could be an uprising and civil strife.

‘An uprising is not planned by people but the situation presents itself. If civil servants including the police and the army are not paid, then there could be an uprising,’ the Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper, reported him saying.

Meanwhile, the same newspaper reports Fanisile Mabila, Acting Accountant General, saying public service salaries will be paid as usual this month (July 2011).

School principals and the Swaziland National Association of Teachers have already stated they will close schools immediately the government announces pay cuts.

See also

PAY CUT: PRINCIPALS TO SHUT SCHOOLS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/07/pay-cut-principals-to-shut-schools.html

SWAZI TEACHERS TO STRIKE IF PAY CUT

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/07/swazi-teachers-to-strike-if-pay-cut.html