Civil servants strike for more pay

Swaziland's public schools were either closed or being run by a skeleton staff on Thursday as teachers took to the streets to demand higher salaries.

A major complaint has been the discrepancy between salary increments awarded to members of the armed forces earlier this year, compared to those of teachers.

Based on rank, army salaries have been raised by up to 50 percent, while fire-fighting personnel were recently awarded R50 million (US $7.3 million) in back pay, dating from 1994.

"It is unfair and insulting that the security forces are taken care of, but teachers must always protest [for increases]," said Gladys Thwala, a primary school teacher.

The teachers are striking just two days after nurses staged a walkout over poor salaries.

The Swaziland National Association of Civil Servants (SNACS) has called a mass meeting next week, at which the agenda will focus on wage demands.

According to the Central Bank of Swaziland, the government intends increasing its spending on public workers' salaries by 21.4 percent in 2005.

The Bank said the wage bill for civil servants was expected to be the major contributor to a sharp growth in government expenditure this year, which would drive up the level of service on public debt, expected to increase by 158 percent in 2005.

The International Monetary Fund and other financial advisory bodies have urged government to trim the public sector workforce, saying that diminishing revenues could not sustain the high number of employees.