University lecturers in
Swaziland (eSwatini) say they have been forced to abandon duties to work unpaid
in the fields of absolute monarch King Mswati III.
In the past the King has been
criticised by modern-day slavery campaigners for forcing people, including children, to work in his fields.
Lecturers said they feared
they would lose their jobs if they did not obey the call to work for the King.
This has been going on for
years, but has only now been revealed publicly.
The Swaziland
News, an online newspaper,
reported lecturers at the University of eSwatini (formerly University of
Swaziland – UNISWA) ‘were forced to protect their jobs by participating in royal
assignments and abandon their professional duties thus comprising the quality
of education within the University’.
It said, ‘lecturers who
spoke to this publication on condition of anonymity said they were not
comfortable with working in the King’s fields but attend the royal duties in
fear of losing their jobs in the event they defy the King.’
Salebona Simelane, the
university registrar, confirmed that some lecturers attended the royal fields
but said none of them was under duress or forced to demonstrate allegiance to
the King.
Musa Nkambule, a lecturer
at the university who is also Chairman of the political party Sive Siyinqaba
‘Sibahle Sinje’, told the News, ‘the administration normally made an announcement
among the staff that the university would be closing early for lecturers to
attend to the royal duties.
‘We should be marking the
[examination] scripts by then but we can’t do that because we are expected to
attend to the royal assignment, this is not right,’ he said.
In 2018 King
Mswati was named in a global report on modern slavery
for forcing his subjects to weed his fields.
The Global Slavery Index
2018, said there was evidence that the practice known as kuhlehla continued, ‘where the community
is forced to render services or work for the King or local chiefs’.
The report estimated there were 12,000 people in
Swaziland in modern slavery. This number increased from 1,302
people in 2013 and 6,700
people in 2014. The numbers for 2018 may have been
distorted by changes in the way victims were counted.
The report stated modern slavery, ‘refers to
situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of
threats, violence, coercion, deception and / or abuse of power’.
This was not the first time King Mswati had been named
in a report on modern slavery or human trafficking. The annual Trafficking
in Persons Report for 2017 from the United States State
Department said it had been reporting conditions in Swaziland for the previous
five years. It said, ‘Swazis are culturally expected to participate in the
seasonal weeding and harvesting of the King’s fields and those who may refuse
are subject to coercion through threats and intimidation by their chiefs.’
A report Child Labor and Forced Labor
from the US Department of Labor looking at 2016 stated penalties imposed by
chiefs included ‘evicting families from their village and confiscating
livestock’.
Separately,
the 2014 Trafficking
in Persons report revealed, ‘Swazi chiefs may coerce children and
adults—through threats and intimidation—to work for the King. Swazi boys and
foreign children are forced to labor in commercial agriculture, including
cattle herding, and market vending within the country.’
King Mswati was at the centre of an international
controversy in January 2015 when Swazi Media Commentary revealed that schools
in Swaziland were
forced to stay closed after Christmas so children could weed the
King’s fields. As many as 30,000 children were thought to have missed schooling
as a result.
The Global Slavery Index for
2016
reported that the Swazi Government ‘attempted to backtrack on its intentions
when its use of unpaid child labour was reported by international media’.
Seven in ten people in Swaziland live in abject poverty earning less than the equivalent of $US3 per day. They can be forced to work under the Swazi Administration Order, No. 6 of 1998 which makes it a duty of Swazis to obey orders and participate in compulsory works; participation is enforceable with severe penalties for those who refuse.
Seven in ten people in Swaziland live in abject poverty earning less than the equivalent of $US3 per day. They can be forced to work under the Swazi Administration Order, No. 6 of 1998 which makes it a duty of Swazis to obey orders and participate in compulsory works; participation is enforceable with severe penalties for those who refuse.
This is allowed even though the Swaziland Constitution
that came into effect in 2006 prohibits forced or compulsory labour.
See also
Swazi
Govt misleads on child labour
Kids
forced to weed King’s fields
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