Women’s Day: Manzini Municipality Appreciates Women Employees
For the Municipal Council of Manzini, International Women’s Day signifies an all-important moment in the calendar year where the organisation demonstrates appreciation of the achievements and contribution made by women employees from the lowest to the highest level towards the delivery of quality service to the city. It is a time when the Municipality reflects on milestones towards implementation of its gender policy; which, amongst others, advocates for equal opportunities in areas of employee recruitment, promotion and professional development. It is a time when women employees come together and share their experiences and achievements; both in and outside of the workplace. It also affords them an opportunity to offload and recharge energy for the year ahead.
The Municipality understands that, particularly during this period when the entire globe is making an effort to successfully fight and win the war against the Covid-19 pandemic, women employees in general face a myriad of challenges compared to their male colleagues. The continued closure of schools, for instance, puts pressure on women employees to find balance between work and family obligations as a result of increased childcare demands and assisting children enrolled for online learning with school work. In other instances, women employees in general face the hardship of assuming the role of bread winners for their families as a result of massive retrenchments in the business sector. As a consequence, women are more likely to consistently experience burnout, exhaustion and a decline in performance in the workplace. Business leaders are, therefore, called to ensure that women receive fair and equitable support in the workplace.
The Municipality is grateful to its women employees for rising up to the challenge and continuing to work with dedication despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. As opposed to the usual culture of organising an International Women’s Day event, and in an effort to observe the Covid-19 protocols in relation to physical distancing, the Municipal Council of Manzini on Monday showered its women employees with gifts in their respective workstations as a token of appreciation for their continued commitment to work despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Manzini Municipality finds this year’s International Women’s Day theme (#ChooseToChallenge) befitting in the sense that indeed a challenged world is an alert world; and from challenge comes change. Women have since time immemorial been disadvantaged in life generally. The theme, therefore, encourages women to express themselves whenever they spot gender bias and inequity in and outside the workplace.
…BUSINESS SECTOR APPLAUDED FOR CONTINUED TESTING OF HAND SANITISERS
The Municipal Council of Manzini would like to commend the business sector and individual citizens for continuing to make use of the hand sanitiser testing service that was introduced by the Municipality at the beginning of this year. The Municipality believes that the level of cooperation in this regard has contributed to the noted flattening of the Covid-19 curve in the city. The Municipality took a decision to introduce the service in order to assist the business sector ensure that hand sanitisers that are applied to customers and employees meet the required standard of 70% alcohol content. The Municipality continues to conduct periodic door-to-door inspections of hand sanitisers within the business sector. At least 10 samples are brought to the municipal laboratory for testing on a weekly basis and that is commended. These are predominantly from the business sector and a fewer from individual citizens.
Noteworthy is that both small scale businesses and large organisations are bringing in their hand sanitisers for testing. These businesses have commended the Municipality for availing the service; adding that it helped them ascertain that their product meets the acceptable quality standard. More businesses and individual citizens are implored to make use of the service as the battle against the Covid-19 virus has not yet been won. The service is offered at E30 per sample. Citizens are also encouraged to continue practising the health protocols including regular washing of hands with soap and running water, wearing of face masks at all times, practicing physical distance of at least one metre from the next person, avoiding crowds and staying home as much as possible. The Covid-19 second wave curve has taken a downward trend, however, it is still imperative that citizens remain committed to practising the preventative measures.