Public servants in
Swaziland / eSwatini are due to start a national strike on Monday (28 January
2019) in a dispute over pay. State police have been put on alert and there are
fears they might use violence to disrupt protests as they have done in the
past.
Government offices,
ministries, departments, schools, clinics, transport departments, healthcare
centres and hospitals, are among areas that could be affected. The strike is
expected to last for five days. It could be repeated each month after that.
Four unions are involved:
the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT); Swaziland National Association
of Government Accountants Personnel (SNAGAP); Swaziland Nurses Association
(SNA) and the National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU). All
are affiliated to the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA).
Workers have been
campaigning for the past two years for cost of living salary increases of 6.5
percent. The government says it is broke and has offered zero percent. Unions
say inflation in Swaziland has risen by 14.5 percent over the past two years. In
a statement ahead of the strike the government said, ‘The taxpayers of Eswatini cannot pay
cost of living adjustments (COLA) to Government employees for 2017/2018 and
2018/2019 while other stakeholders remain unpaid, while there are unfunded
deficits and while Government salaries are already at unsustainable levels.’
Unions dispute this and say
the government wastes money on ‘lavish’ spending on ‘non-priority
and capital projects such as the construction of the International Convention
Centre [ICC], funding of festivities such as the Umhlanga Reed Dance, 50/50
celebrations for the King’s birthday and Independence Day celebrations and
catering for huge delegations to international trips.’
There are fears of police
violence during the strike. In the past police fired
live bullets, rubber bullets and teargas at workers and demonstrators who
had been legally protesting. In September 2018 during a three-day strike the
streets of Manzini, the kingdom’s main commercial city, were turned into a ‘battlefield’,
according to local media. The Swazi
Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III, the kingdom’s
absolute monarch, said the bus rank in Swaziland’s major commercial city was
‘turned into a warzone as stun grenades, teargas, teasers and rubber bullets
became the order of the day’.
The Times
of Swaziland , the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper, called
it an ‘open battlefield’.
Armed police had been deployed across Swaziland. Videos
and photographs of brutal police attacks were uploaded on social media. The
Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC)
in a statement said the videos
showed ‘unlawful police actions’.
It added, ‘Several workers were wounded after police
fired stun grenades to disperse the crowd in Manzini. These police officers
then unleashed a wave of assaults against striking workers in an effort to
quell the protests.’
See also
Police Turn Swaziland
City Into ‘Warzone’ as National Strike Enters Second Day
Widespread
Condemnation of Swaziland Police Brutal Attacks on Workers
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