Thursday, August 2, 2012

GOVT SACKS TEACHERS’ STRIKE LEADER

The President of the Swaziland Association of Teachers (SNAT) Sibongile Mazibuko has been fired by the Swaziland Government.


Mazibuko who was deputy principal of SOS Primary in Mbabane was together with more than 100 other SNAT members dismissed for engaging in the teachers’ pay strike that has just entered its fifth week.

The sacking comes as the Swazi Government cracks down on the strikers. Despite the intimidation of the Ministry of Education, teachers have refused to be forced back to work. They want a 4.5 percent pay increase.

The Centre for Human Rights, Swaziland, reports that in some schools in Swaziland the majority of teachers have been fired and the schools have been closed. Minister of Education Wilson Ntshangase said he had newly-qualified and unemployed teachers ready to take the place of the sacked workers.
Meanwhile, a hearing to get the Industrial Court to order the government to halt the dismissals was postponed today (2 August 2012) and will resume tomorrow, when teachers are also expected to march on the Ministry of Education to demand the reinstatement of all sacked teachers.

See also
STRIKING SWAZILAND TEACHERS SACKED

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