…demand whooping 25 percent wage hike for all civil servants
Bereng Mpaki
POLICE, teachers, nurses have ganged up to demand a massive 25 percent wage hike for all civil servants.
They want the government to implement the salary increments in the upcoming financial year which begins on 1 April 2022.
Their unions penned a joint letter this week giving Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro just 24 hours to address their grievances.
The seven unions who penned the joint letter dated 22 February 2022 are the Lesotho Police Staff Association (LEPOSA), Lesotho Public Service Association (LEPSA), Lesotho Association of Teachers (LAT), Lesotho Teachers Trade Union (LTTU), Lesotho Schools Principal’s Associations (LESPA), Qiloane Nursing Assistants Association (QINUASA) and the Lesotho Nurses Association (LNA).
Their demands come against the backdrop of last week’s parliamentary address by Public Service Minister, Keketso Sello, wherein he said civil servants were unlikely to get a salary increment in the upcoming financial year.
Mr Sello conceded that civil servants last got a five percent pay hike in the 2019/20 financial year. Last year, they were not awarded any increments due to the country’s poor financial performance caused by Lesotho’s declining Southern African Customs Union (SACU) revenue share and the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy.
He said discussions were ongoing with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a financial bailout. Only if the talks succeeded, would the public servants get salary increments, Mr Sello said. He did not say how much they would get if the IMF talks succeed.
But the restive civil servants are having none of it. Come hell or high water, they want a wage hike. They accused the government and legislators of selfishness by awarding the latter monthly fuel allowances of M5000 each last year.
Given such “self-serving” decisions on the part of government, they said their demands ought to be granted.
“We are in receipt of information obtained from good authority that when the budget estimates for the 2022/23 fiscal year are presented (tomorrow), civil servants will brace themselves for another zero percent increase and the repercussions cannot be overemphasised,” the civil servants state in their joint letter to Dr Majoro.
“There is no iota of doubt that the morale of our members has plummeted to its lowest ebb across the aforementioned sectors. The past three years have been the hardest to us. In the midst of a myriad of challenges , (inter alia, Covid-19) that befell the world, we have had to live with zero increments on the understanding that our country has been economically hit hard too (sic). However, with some government decisions, among others, the M5000 salary increase purported to be for fuel for parliamentarians, the foregoing understanding has become illusive and can no longer hold water (sic).
“Consequently, we have no option but to make the following demands:
- a) That the budget estimates are corrected to ensure that the civil servants salary increase is not less than 25 percent,
- b) Or in the alternative, the following be implemented with effect from 1st April 2022:
- i) the threshold at which income earners become liable for income tax or Pay as You Earn (PAYE) should be increased or raised to M48 000 per annum with effect from 2022/23 tax year.
- ii) That the tax credit be increased.
“These changes will go a long way towards increasing our buying power and the government will subsequently collect more Value Added Tax (VAT).”
The civil servants had given Prime Minister Majoro just one day to respond to their grievances and that deadline expired yesterday.
Contacted for comment, Dr Majoro’s spokesperson, Buta Moseme, said the government was addressing the civil servants’ petition.
“Their letter has been received and is being attended to by the relevant authorities,” Mr Moseme said in a brief interview. He did not say who the relevant authorities were or whether they would give in to the civil servants’ demands.
It is not clear what the civil servants will do if their grievances are not addressed. The teachers have nonetheless already hinted at industrial action to compel the government to increase their salaries in line with a new salary structure they say was agreed to in 2018.
While police officers and other members of the security agencies in other countries are barred from striking, let alone belong to a trade union, Lesotho’s police have gone on strike as recently as 2019. They have even organised themselves into their militant union, LEPOSA. Police Commissioner Holomo Molibeli and his management team are all former members of LEPOSA. Ironically, the militant union has now trained its guns on the police chief. Back in 2020, it even petitioned then Prime Minister Thomas Thabane to fire him for alleged incompetence. It has also petitioned his successor, Dr Majoro, with the same demand to no avail.
Without giving away any details, LAT secretary general, Letsatsi Ntsibolane, said it was imperative for the government to meet their demands.
“What I can only say at this point is that we do not encourage the government to disregard our suggestions on this matter,” Mr Ntsibolane said in an interview.
Despite what Mr Sello said last week in parliament, it is highly unlikely that the IMF would agree that any funds it gives to Lesotho be used for salary increments when it has regularly exhorted frugality including slashing the public wage bill.
Even when Dr Majoro was Finance Minister, his talks with the IMF failed to yield the hoped-for financial bailout for the government.
The IMF repeatedly told the previous government that it would only provide a financial bailout to help reduce the budget deficit and boost foreign currency reserves on condition the latter adhered to stringent pre-conditions centered on the implementation of tough fiscal measures to improve the economy.
Chief among these was the need for the government to reduce the high public wage bill, undertake public financial management reform as well as implement the multi-sector reforms recommended by the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
The IMF has also advised the government to award performance-based salary increments. The IMF prescriptions are inimical to the civil servants’ and other workers’ demands for wholesale wage increments.
