FINANCE MINISTER COMPROMISES CRUCIAL PUBLIC SERVICE NEGOTIATIONS, PSUs REJECT HIS SENTIMENTS

Public Services workers protesting in Mbabane (Credit: File picture)

Witten by Fundizwi Sikhondze

The Eswatini Minister for Finance Neal Rijkenberg is suspected to have compromised collective bargaining or negotiations in the public service. The minister made the now controversial remarks on Tuesday 26th August 2025 while conducting what could be seen as a routine interview with state broadcasting channel, the Eswatini Television for their news feature, Market View.

During the interview when the subject of the salary review was broached the Minister expressed fear that financial constraints on the government may make the recommendations difficult to implement. "As a government as you know we have provided half a billion as a pre-emptive budget amount for salary review, To try and find more money in this year's budget will be very very be difficult and so unfortunately if the salary review is showing to be a much higher number we going to have to probably maybe negotiate with the unions and see what we can do to maybe phase it, to settle maybe a certain portion and another portion next year". The minister finished by saying ,'Until we know the number its difficult to know exactly what will happen".

In response to the interview and speaking to the Eswatini Observer (28-8-2025) SNAT Secretary General Lot Gaddafi Vilakati rejected the suggestion and instead accused the Minister of speaking out of turn ,outside the JNF structures. The SG further said the government had a poor track record of honouring the phased approach as even in the present period they were still dealing with the unpaid recommendations for increase in allowances done by the last salary review in 2016. He said, "There are still pending allowances from the last review".

Meanwhile SWADNU's Deputy Secretary General Saneliso Mavuso stated that the minister's remarks were out of order however he added that as SWADNU and a collective of PSUs they were not going to pay any attention to the minister but were going to focus on what is being discussed at the JNF where they had been informed by the government that funds to implement the salary review would be made available once the salary review process was done and report released.

The President of NAPSAWU Bawinile Ndlovu and Secretary General of the SNAGAP pHUMZILE Masilela both also rejected the minister's statements.

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