Mbuela Lodge IV: EPST's Banc syndical boycotts work and demands listings for July 2023

On Friday, July 21, 2023, the day the joint committee of the Government and the Primary, Secondary and Technical Education (EPST), the teachers’ representatives walked out of the room to demand that the national government honor the commitments made in the addendum to the Bibwa Memorandum of Understanding, signed on November 21, 2021, between the two parties—a scene that unfolded after Minister Tony Mwaba Kazadi had officially opened the session on Thursday, July 20.

This stance by the union representatives was foreseeable from the very day of the official launch of the conference. The task therefore looks difficult for the government delegation, which must fulfill its commitments that have remained unfulfilled to this day.

Following the first step—the validation of mandates—the plenary session installed the Presiding Board, which is composed of the Ministry of Budget as Chair, the Intersyndicale as First Vice-Chair, DINACOPE as Second Vice-Chair, and the provincial unions as rapporteurs.

Immediately after the plenary session appointed the members of the Bureau, the Chair thanked the various delegates for their willingness to participate before calling on them to exercise greater responsibility to ensure a smooth conclusion.

Before discussions began, union leader Médard Mwenge, President of the EPST Union Delegation, spoke on behalf of his colleagues to propose a motion suspending their participation in the proceedings until they receive a favorable response to certain preconditions.

"We will not resume these proceedings until the government has signed the payroll lists adjusted in accordance with the terms agreed upon at Mbuela III, which should have been in effect since last April," he stated.

Immediately after this statement, the union delegation walked out of the room under the stunned gaze of the government delegation and the presiding officers. These union representatives vow to boycott the start of the school year if the government does not urgently fulfill its commitments, particularly the increase in the sub-sector’s salary budget, which is supposed to rise from 19 billion to 41 billion starting this July.

"We have observed that the government has acted in bad faith and is putting us at risk at the grassroots level. We are not here for discussions but to ensure the fulfillment of the commitments made earlier in this very room at Mbuela Lodge at the beginning of 2023. "If the government does not sign the payroll lists as agreed, do not even think there will be a school opening; our schools will be closed for any other activity that does not align with education—in this case, the elections," declared Godefroid Matondo, spokesperson for the EPST Inter-Union Alliance.

Pending a favorable outcome, internal discussions continue between the two delegations, with the aim of finding compromises to consolidate the momentum gained over the past two years—namely, peaceful and uninterrupted school openings.

Christian BELLA