Swazi Observer

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WE ALSO WANT COLA - PRINCIPALS TELL MINISTER

By Bongiwe Dlamini | 2019-09-19

SCHOOL principals told the ministry of education and training that they also want the Cost of Living Adjustment (CoLa) that teachers are proposing to protest over next week.

The principals said this during a meeting that they had with officials from the Ministry of Education and Training as well as the Teaching Service Commission.

The meeting was held at Prince Mfanyana Hall yesterday. The principals said this when they were given an opportunity to voice out their opinions on how business could be best conducted over the period that the proposed strike would be held.

Before this juncture, the Minister of Education and Training Lady Howard-Mabuza, as represented by the Minister of Public Service Christian Ntshangase, informed the principals that they were government’s ambassadors.

For this, Ntshangase said principals were expected to be available at their various work stations during the period that the strike will take place, and further monitor whether their subordinates have come to school or not.

For those who will be available at school, Ntshangase said they would be monitored to determine whether they are doing their job as expected, that the teaching and learning process was effective as a result.

To do this, Ntshangase said principals would be given forms where they will record their findings in regards to whether the available teachers would be teaching.

This form also has space allocated for teachers to sign to prove their presence at the school. According to Ntshangase, the principals were to do this on a daily basis for the duration of the strike.

Also, the school administrators were given commitment forms that they are expected to sign as a form of agreement to the duty they have been tasked with by government.

The principals will also be supervised as inspectors are said to be making random checks in all the schools to check whether teachers were doing their jobs and that the information on the forms was correct.

Further, the minister warned that attendance registers were to be filled by principals and teachers within the school premises, not anywhere else because there was a tendency of doctoring attendance registers.

When justifying the introduction of the attendance forms, Ntshangase said government would use the information to determine who would be paid or not. He said as per the employment agreement that the teachers and government entered into, in the event that employees decided not to work, the employer also had a right not to pay the employees if they had not rendered their services.

Rule

“The no work no pay rule will be effected for teachers who will not be teaching on the three days. This will apply even for those who will go to work but not teach,” he said.

This was emphasised by the Chairman on the Teaching Service Commission Simangaliso Mamba who said it was the civil servants’ right to strike if they are not granted what they had asked from their employer. He said it was also the employer’s right not to pay the employees for services that they have not rendered.

“These forms should make anyone feel threatened because they are just an instrument that government will use to decided who should be paid based on their performance,” Mamba emphasised.

He said this was done to prevent problems similar to that which presented themselves back in 2012 when teachers participated in a strike almost similar to the proposed one. When government implemented the no work no pay rule, some teachers complained that they had been working but they were also considered to have absconded work, and were not paid.

“Teachers cannot attend union activities on a daily basis at the expense of learners. One who wants to participate in such is supposed to seek permission from their supervisor who is also expected to consult before he or she approves,” Mamba added.

Message

In response, one of the principals who identified himself as Mduduzi Hlatshwako asked that the ministry officials give them a specific time as to when teachers would get what they wanted so that they would pass the message with the hope to avert the upcoming strike.

Hlatshwako said the strike was the civil servants, including teachers’ last resort.

“What they want is money, just like us. Silambile! We also want the CoLA,’’ he said much to the approval of his colleagues.

The principal further informed the ministry’s officials that they had nothing so much that they even failed to pay back minor loans. In his case, Hlatshwako said he was diabetic but he drank emahewu which he carried to the meeting because he was hungry.

“I’m not supposed to be drinking this but because I have no money to buy proper food for diabetic people,” he added.

In response to this, the TSC Chairman said the officials were in no position to tell teachers that they would get their CoLA because as the Prime Minister had said, the country does not have enough money to pay them.

He added that should funds permit, civil servants might be awarded with CoLA in 2021. As this was said, the principals murmured in disapproval.

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