By Bongiwe Dlamini

MBABANE: An employment document seen by this Swaziland News for the newly employed fire fighters suggests that,Government will pay eight thousand and eight-eight, thirty-three cents(R8,088.33) per-month as a salary for each fire fighter who secured the job with only a Form V certificate.

The fire fighters recruits under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development secured permanent employment with benefits that include Pension, housing allowance among others.

On another note,qualified teachers with Degrees are employed on contract and paid only five thousand Rands(R5,000.00)before deductions. 

A questionnaire was sent to Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo,however,he had not responded at the time of compiling this report.

Responding to this Swaziland News on the subject matter,Lot Vilakati, the Secretary General(SG) of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers(SNAT) said, as a organization, they “are not surprised” with the latest developments.

“It’s unfortunate but we are not surprised because even with the police is the same story. You then ask yourself why Government is against education, those in power want to make sure they portray education as useless. It’s wrong not to give money to an educated person but give it to those who are not educated. But that doesn’t mean we are saying, the fire fighters recruits don’t deserve the money, they deserve it.But the educated ones like teachers should be given a lot of money. When you talk about teaching, these are the people who teach everyone and produce other professions but they are not receiving decent salaries”, said the SNAT Secretary General when speaking to editor Zweli Martin Dlamini.

On another note,the recently employed fire fighters were employed under a cloud of controversy, Chief Fire Officer Luke Lushaba was accused of corruption in that, he allegedly influenced the employment of unqualified recruits sidelining those who successfully participated in the recruitment process.