Finance Minister Neal Rijikernberg urges civil servants not to protest

NOTCHING: Finance Minister Neal Rijikernberg urges civil servants not to protest, says protests might disturb flow of revenue and affect payment of the remaining salary review monies.

BY MUSA MDLULI

Swaziland News,20th April 2026

MBABANE: Neal Rijikernberg, the Minister of Finance, has appealed to civil servants not to protest and disturb the economy at this critical time where the Government spending is high subsequent to the recently implemented salary review.

This comes after Government announced that there would be no notching for civil servants, citing financial constraints after the recent salary review that increased the Government spending.

But trade union leaders under the Public Sector Unions (PSUs) rejected the Government decision to stop the notching, a gradual salary increment and resolved to organize march to the Prime Minister’s Office on Monday to deliver a petition.

Speaking on his Finance-in-Focus online program, Minister Neal Rijikernberg said the money expected to finance the outstanding salary review payments, will come from taxpayers and the therefore, disturbing the economy through protests might undermine the Government’s efforts to increase the salaries.

Writing on his Visionary Perspective Column on Sunday, Swaziland News Guest Writer and Harvard Scholar Velaphi Mamba shared a different view, he questioned why civil servants are expected to understand Government’s financial challenges amid royal extravagant spending.

“Public finances are severely stretched and service delivery is literally fractious with deeply entrenched inequality across the country. Yet in the midst of this, the monarchy continues to extract from the state as though resources are infinite. The King has just received a hefty and grotesque E50 million salary increase from the national purse but the people who are expected to pull through his lavish jamboree have received nothing. And we must be expected to be fine with this - after all the King is eating,” writes the Harvard Scholar.