Mbabane – “With the salary withheld I am literally living below the basic one Dollar per day yet I have a valid contract of employment in force.”
These were the submissions of the suspended government spokesperson, Alpheous Mfana Nxumalo in his recent court application for alleged unpaid suspension.
Nxumalo said the Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary, the secretary in the Civil Service Commission (CSC), Accountant General, the Attorney General (AG), the four respondents’ conduct is unlawful.
He said the withholding of the salary is in breach of his employment contract and the labour laws “which require that I be paid on the agreed date of each month in terms of section 47 of the Employment Act of 1980.”
Nxumalo said the respondents withheld the salary without a court order or any legal process.
“Thus I humbly ask that the court directs and compels the Respondents to release my salary for the months of October and November 2025 including all other subsequent months in accordance with my contract of employment.
“The matter is urgent because without my salary I am unable to cater for my basic needs for a livelihood,” Nxumalo said.
He said he had no alternative source of livelihood and has dependents who rely on him for their basic needs.
“I also have monthly bills to pay and without a salary remain vulnerable to being taken to court for failure to meet my financial obligations,” Nxumalo said.
Nxumalo said waiting for the full adherence to the part VIII procedure of the Industrial Relations Act of year 2000 will cause injustice as by the time the application gets to be heard he would have drowned in debt.
He also said the Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration Commission (CMAC) has no power to issue a writ of mandamus against the employer enforcing the employment contract and has no mechanism to hear urgent applications in the manner envisaged under rule 14 of the Industrial Court rules.
“The CMAC rules have no provision for urgent matters like this one and thus the applicant is compelled to approach this Honorable court for the relief sought from the Notice of Motion,” Nxumalo said.
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