More
workers in Swaziland’s sugarcane industry are joining a trade union, following
international condemnation of their working conditions.
The Swaziland
Agricultural and Plantations Workers Union (SAPAWU) is reported to have made a
positive impact to the workers. In one case at a farm with 70 employees, 50
have joined the union, the Swazi Observer
newspaper reported on Friday (12 May 2017).
In 2016, the International Trade Union Congress (ITUC) published a report called, King Mswati’s gold: Workers’ rights and land confiscation in
Swaziland’s sugar sector.
The ITUC said King Mswati
III, who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, was one
of the chief exploiters of workers. It said sugarcane production had brought
about more human suffering than development in Swaziland. Many people had been
evicted from land and the general conditions in the sugar industry were
atrocious.
The opening sentences of
the ITUC report said, ‘On 12 April 1973, King Sobhuza II decreed a national
state of emergency thereby assuming total control over all aspects of Swazi
public life. Political parties were banned and political activism was
criminalised. Though the state of emergency was lifted in 2005, little has
changed. The royal family has used Tibiyo Taka Ngwane, established in 1968 as a
development fund, as the means to control the Swazi economy and to amass a
large fortune.’
Tibiyo Taka Ngwane controls
the sugar industry in Swaziland.
The ITUC report added, ‘The
King is the sole trustee of Tibiyo and the fund is immune from all judicial
review. As such, Tibiyo is able to compete unfairly in the economy, undermining
local business and discouraging much-needed foreign investment (FDI).’
It added, ‘However, for
workers employed in the sugar industry, the sector has no such lustre; instead,
workers live in extreme poverty despite long hours and hard work generating
wealth for the King. Trade union activities are highly repressed, and laws such
as the Sedition and Subversive Activities Act, 1938, Public Order Act of 1963
and the Suppression of Terrorism Act of 2008 are used to suppress trade union
activity.’
On trade
union recruitment, SAPAWU Secretary General Mancoba Dlamini, told the Swazi
Observer, ‘Workers have realised how much they benefit from joining hard unions
as their voices are heard, they can either work in the sugar fields or offices,
as they are affected in the same way.’
He added
that most of the workers were adamant about joining unions especially because
their managers threatened and victimised them.
See also
HUMAN
SUFFERING AND SWAZI SUGAR
KING
EXPLOITS SUGAR WORKERS
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2016/10/king-exploits-sugar-workers.html
No comments:
Post a Comment