Written by Fundizwi Sikhondze
On the early evening of Wednesday 15th October 2025 the Eswatini Government and the Public Services Unions (PSUs) reached an agreement on the implementation of the salary review and jobs grading process. The parties then signed a collective agreement that guided the modalities of the implementation of the recommendations that had been pronounced out by Emergency Human Consultancy in their report delivered and accepted by the parties.
According to the collective agreement the implemented salary review was the Scenario Three (3) of the five (5) implementation scenarios proposed in the salary review and job grading report. Scenario three was described as the one scenario that aimed for the middle round and was characterised to be "making moderate yet impactful adjustment to the current salary structure".
The collective agreement principally stated that the employer ,the Government of Eswatini, intended to implement 100% of the recommendations of the salary review and jobs grading report backdated to April 2025. It further stated that however the government will pay 15% of the six (6) months backpay and pay he rest on July 2026.
For salaries graded in the C to the F pay bands the collective agreement provided that they would transition to the new pay system and start at the first notch.
In reference to the public service workers in the A and B pay levels ,who were not recommended for any upward movement of salaries in the report, the agreement stated that they would be awarded a once off payment equivalent of 5% of annual basic salary and they would be transitioned to the new pay system on a notch to notch basis.
Other benefits over and above salaries that had also been under review by the consultant include allowances. In reference to housing allowance the parties agreed to have workers in pay levels A and B be paid all their housing allowance in full from October 2025. For workers in pay levels C to F the agreement stated that they would be awarded their housing allowance in July 2026 and backdated to October 2025. Another allowance ,the commuting or bus fare allowance was also pushed to be fully implemented in July 2026 with effect from October 2025.
The agreement made provisions for an appeals process whose details were expected to be outlined in a circular that was going to be released by the government at a later. Lastly, the agreement set the the next salary review in 2030.
Speaking to Times of Eswatini on 15th October 2025 the Principal Secretary to the Ministry of Public Service Mthunzi Shabangu expressed relief at the conclusion of the process, He said, "We can say the work continued today as per our mandate from the government reached a conclusion. We are duly going back to our principals to report the developments".
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