The Finance Minister of Swaziland / eSwatini Neal Rijkenberg threatened to cut public
service jobs if the kingdom did not fall into line and accept his programme to
cut debts.
In his budget speech on Wednesday (27 February
2019) he also said there would be no cost of living (CoLA) pay increases for
public servants. Public sector unions in the kingdom, ruled by King Mswati III,
sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, have been campaigning
over the past months for a 6.5 percent increase.
Rijkenberg said the
government was broke and could not afford salary increases. He said, ‘Our
growing wage bill is placing insurmountable pressure on our budget and
Government has been under immense strain to pay salaries due to the cash flow
crisis. For wages and pensions, expenditure will increase from E8.2 billion in
2018/19 to E8.5 billion in 2019/20, this is despite the current hiring freeze.
Given the state of the economy, it is not prudent or possible to budget for a CoLA
in 2019/20, as the country simply cannot afford it.’
He said paying the salary
increase would contribute to the kingdom’s debts. If debt increased, he said, ‘we
will have no option but to cut the wage bill.’ He did not give details but it
would mean either cuts in salaries or job losses (or both).
After Rijkenberg’s speech the
Swaziland National Association of Teacher (SNAT)
in a statement said, ‘it is an open secret that
the ordinary people do not benefit from the country’s resources but the Royal
Family is forever on the receiving end’.
SNAT stated, ‘It beats logic why Mr. Neal can say the
country recorded an economic growth of about 1.7 percent in 2017 and still
offers 0.00 percent as CoLA for Government employees.’
SNAT also criticised The
E2.98 billion allocated in the budget for the army, police and prison services.
These security forces in the past have attacked workers on legal
demonstrations.
In September 2018 the Swazi
Police were criticised
by human rights groups when they attacked workers led by the Trades
Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) who were demonstrating in Manzini for
CoLA, a national minimum wage of E3,500 (US$ 234.27) a
month, and an increase in elderly grants (pensions) to E1,500. Police used
teargas and stun-grenades.
Swaziland Human Rights
Network UK in a statement at the time said, ‘The violent attack on peacefully
demonstrating TUCOSWA members is reprehensible as it was a violation of their
constitutional right to freedom of assembly and expression.’
It added, ‘The eSwatini
government has turned the country into a violent police state where the
security services have been turned into tools of suppression to protect the
interests of not just the government but the regime of King Mswati III.’
SNAT said in its statement
following the budget speech, ‘This means labour unions and other
civil society organisations shall be silenced, violently so and no voices of
dissent will be allowed. Citizens must keep quiet, toe the line and that equals
to peace, money has been set aside to procure guns and all sorts of artillery
for that exercise. This is what dictatorships are known for, world over.’
See also
Gap
between rich and poor in Swaziland continues to grow, Finance Minister reports
Widespread Condemnation of Swaziland Police Brutal
Attacks on Workers
Swaziland
public servants prepare for pay strike amid fears of renewed police violence
against them
https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/01/swaziland-public-servants-prepare-for.html
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