BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini is described as someone who is working extremely hard to see the conclusion of the improvement of the junior police officers’ conditions of service.
The improvement of the police officers’ conditions of service has become known as Phase II, which also includes increasing salaries of the officers. It has dragged for 10 years now, having started back in 2014.
According to Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo, it is wrong for junior police officers to blame the Prime Minister for the problems they face. Nxumalo said this in response to accusations that were reportedly made by the junior police officers during a meeting they had yesterday in Manzini. The Government mouthpiece issue a press statement today (Sunday, October 27, 2024) to address the matter.
In the meeting, the junior police officers, meeting as members of the Royal Eswatini Police Staff Association (REPOSA), reportedly accused the prime minister of sowing division within the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS). The police are said to have further accused the premier of making use of this issue to fight certain Members of Parliament (MPs) like Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo.
The junior law enforcers are also said to have warned that their matter was not to be taken lightly. They are reported to have stated that ignoring their plight was a threat to national security. They were also reported to have made a decision to seek audience with His Majesty King Mswati III on this matter.
In the statement, Nxumalo warned the junior officers against using some MPs as their trojan horses on purely administrative matters that delved on their bread-and-butter issues. He further mentioned that the premier was not fighting anyone in Parliament, but merely did his work as an MP. He told the police officers that the Dlamini was an MP first before he was a PM. Therefore, he had a responsibility of interrogating issues in Parliament, just like his fellow MPs.
Nxumalo further mentioned that the law enforcers should not align their plight as being a national threat, stating that such an act was light negotiating with a gun pointed towards the other party, in order to influence them to begrudgingly agree to demands of the aggressor. Nxumalo said such an act was tantamount to committing a heist (Kubambinkunzi) and the officers knew that.
Besides that, Nxumalo said the junior officers should not approach the matter with an intention to escalate the matter on the table to ‘security threats’ level. He said such a thing would polarise efforts to solve the problem. Nxumalo emphasised that the prime minister had not done anything to sow division among anyone on the matter. According to Nxumalo, the premier urges everyone involved to work hard in finding a lasting solution on the matter.
