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By BONGIWE DLAMINI | 2024-11-22
Employees of the University of Eswatini (UNESWA) have likened Vice Chancellor Professor Justice Thwala to a chameleon for allegedly ‘siding with government’.
The employees, who were represented by executive members of their unions the Association of Lecturers, Academic and Administrative Personnel (ALAAP) and National Workers Union in Swaziland Higher Institutions (NAWUSHI), said this during a press briefing that was held at UNESWA Kwaluseni yesterday.
They said they were shocked to hear Thwala speaking in a changed tune when addressing the media about the university’s financial position on Wednesday.
On this day, the vice chancellor reiterated the Minister of Education and Training Owen Nxumalo’s statement that government had paid all monies due to UNESWA on Tuesday, November 19.
The minister said this to counter a prior statement that had been made by the university’s acting Registrar Richard Masuku on a national radio programme where he attributed the institution’s inability to honour its financial obligations, to government’s delay in disbursing tuition fees for government-sponsored students as well as the monthly instalment of government’s subvention.
The UNESWA employees stated that they had it in authority that the subvention to pay their November salaries was deposited into the university’s account on November 20, and not 19.
They also wondered why the university continuously faced a litany of issues if government had indeed paid all monies due to it as stated by Thwala.
ALAAP’s Chairperson Sibusiso Nhlabatsi further mentioned that as at noon yesterday, SwaziMed and all other medical aid providers servicing employees of the university had not been paid.
“What is the UNESWA management doing with the funds then if government is said to be adequately funding the university?” wondered the employees.
Additionally, the employees said they fully supported the acting registrar for making a truthful statement, which they said was aligned with what they had consistently been informed by management at the Joint Negotiation Committee (JNC) table and in various forums.
“ALAAP respects the office of the minister of education and training and that of the VC. However, the association would like to make the public aware that what the VC described as the situation within the university is not what is happening on the ground,” said Nhlabatsi.
The employees noted that UNESWA had been marked by financial challenges dating as far back as the year 2008, though the situation worsened between 2016 and 2018.
They said the UNESWA Council, which was the highest decision-making body at the university, did not address the association’s members’ concerns, on the lack of decisiveness when it came to holding the university’s management accountable.
The employees under ALAAP said the university was faced with a number of problems, which management always said were due to lack of funds because the government did not remit the monthly subvention on time, which resulted in either delayed salaries or slashed salaries since 2022.
“It was therefore concerning to see the vice chancellor changing tune in Wednesday’s conference and putting the blame on his own administration which he led. That says a lot about him as a person,” said ALAAP Chairperson Sibusiso Nhlabatsi.
The UNESWA Vice Chancellor Professor Justice Thwala was contacted for his side on the matter, but he declined to comment.
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