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PUBLIC SERVICE WORKERS CONTINUE TO WAIT FOR PROMISED SALARY AND JOB GRADING REPORT

 

PSU leaders at the Ministry of Public Service in Mbabane on 02 July 2025 (Picture Credit: Eswatini Labour Insight)

Written by Fundizwi Sikhondze (Eswatini Labour Insight Publisher)

The public services workers represented by the Public Services Unions (PSUs) - namely the National Public Services and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU), Swaziland National Association of Government Accounting Personnel (SNAGAP), the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) and the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) - continue with their wait for the delivery of salary review report by the consultant, a joint venture of Umelusi Consultants and Emergency Growth Consultancy project. The delays in the release of the report two weeks after the delivery of the draft report on the 15th August 2025 continue to cause tensions between the PSUs and the Eswatini government. 

In the JNF that took place on 21st August 2025 the government and the consultant had failed to produce and present the report because according to the SNAT Statement (21-08-2025), the report was said to be too scanty and lacked the fundamental recommendations such as the recommended changes in pay scales as well as the reviewed percentage increases. This discovery according to the SNAT statements led to an agreement that the final report would be delivered on the 1st September 2025. 

The JNF eventually sat on the 2nd September 2025 and it was reported to have faced similar challenges to the one held on 21st August 2025 in that PSU leadership were informed that the consultant was not ready to deliver the report as per the collective agreement on the 9th July 2025. The PSUs leadership according to the accounts from both the SNAT and NAPSAWU social media platforms had to be firm and insist that the consultant be summoned into the meeting to present the report as per the collective agreement signed on the 9th of July 2025.

According to the NAPSAWU report posted on their Facebook platform the Consultant eventually joined the JNF (albeit with a changed venue) and presented what could be described as a skeleton of the salary review and job grading report. The skeleton report as reported by the PSUs was again devoid of the all-important recommendations by the consultant on both the review of salaries as well as the job grading part where some jobs will be regarded and moved to different grades.

However the Consultant was able to make an overview that suggested that as an outcome of the job evaluation process it was expected that there would be no change to the grades of 70% of the jobs in government , 20% of them will remain the same and 7% are expected to be downgraded.

The Consultant is also reported to have given budgetary scenarios for the implementation of the salary review as follows:

Scenario 1 - If the government were to implement 10 -20% of the recommended adjustments, inclusive of reviewed allowances, it would cost the government around E500 million.

Scenario 2 – If the government were to implement 20 -30% of the recommended adjustments inclusive of reviewed allowances, it would cost the government E1.1billion.

Scenario 3 -If the government was to implement 30 - 40 of the salary review recommended adjustments inclusive of reviewed allowances, it could cost E1, 3 billion.

Scenario 4 - If the government were to implement 40 - 50% of the recommended adjustments of the salaries , inclusive of reviewed allowances, will cost government 1.7 billion.

It is interesting that the scenarios given by the consultant in the JNF had been previously suggested by the Finance Minister Neal Rijkinberg in an interview with Eswatini Television Authority.

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