Managers in Swaziland’s notorious textile industry are forcing women to have sex with them in return for jobs.
Others are forced to pay bribes of up to E100 (about 13 US dollars) to be considered for a job.
A personnel manager from one company was caught in the act, according to the Times of Swaziland.
The newspaper reported on Monday (28 July 2008), ‘At times the managers demand sexual favours in return for work.
‘This, according to desperate job seekers found outside one company and further confirmed by independent investigations by this publication, is the order of the day.’
The Times gave a distressing insight into the plight of poor women in Swaziland.
‘A number of desperate people have fallen victim to the manager who, it is alleged, demands E50 for himself and another E50, which he claims is for another officer who would ensure registration into the company payroll.
‘Faced with tough economic conditions, people would rather risk facing the full measure of the law by bribing their way into employment.’
The Times reported that with women forming the majority of job seekers, ‘reports of sexual abuse are rife though they could not be verified during independent investigations by this publication’.
Times journalists posed as job seekers to investigate a firm that the newspaper declined to name pending investigations by the Swazi labour department.
The Times reported, ‘A long queue was already formed outside the company as early as 7am by mostly young women. Desperation was written all over the faces of some while others appeared to have been exhausted probably due to lack of a good night’s sleep. Some were already showing signs of sleepiness as they rested their heads on their laps as they patiently waited.
‘The few males on sight were basking in the morning sun. The young men expressed their frustration at being unemployed.
‘“These guys expect us to pay them upfront before we get employed. Who on earth can lend me E50 knowing that I am unemployed?” said one of the men, speaking of how they are forced to raise the bribe money to make it to the employment list.’
The Times report continued, ‘The women pitied themselves for being female because one of the personnel managers tasked at one point to recruit them invited some to his house.
‘“I know one girl who last week came fuming to the manager demanding instant employment before all hell broke loose,” she alleged, adding that after the said confrontation other women demanded employment too as they claimed to have done certain favours for this official.’
This is not the first expose of conditions at textile factories in Swaziland.
In March 2008, the Swazi Observer newspaper reported that workers were so badly paid that many of them existed ‘close to starvation.’
In June 2008, Swazi MPs called for an end to the ‘slave wages’ being paid by textile firms.
Earlier this year (2008), police brutally attacked workers who were legally striking for higher wages.
I have written extensively about the textile industry. To see more posts click here.
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