‘SLAVE LABOUR’ RIFE IN SWAZILAND

Many people, including children, are forced to work without pay in Swaziland for members of the ruling elites.

And the Swazi law allows this to happen.

In effect a form of serfdom exists in the kingdom ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

Swazis are forced to work without pay on projects determined by local chiefs (who are appointed by the king). These include agricultural work, soil erosion and construction and maintenance.

Swazis, seven in ten who live in abject poverty and earn less than one US dollar a day, are 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 was enacted in 2006 prohibits forced or compulsory labour.

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in a report released this week says the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU) has called the administration order a form of forced labour which reinforces the traditional powers of chiefs to demand uncompensated labour from citizens and apply punishment in case of refusal.

The ITUC says that although statistics are not collected there is a lot of evidence to show that people are trafficked for forced labour in Swaziland.

‘It is believed that trafficking in girls and women largely concerns cases of domestic servitude and prostitution and in men and boys, forced labour in commercial agriculture and market vending,’ the report says.

The problem of trafficking in Swaziland was highlighted by the United States in August 2009 when it threatened to withdraw up to 200 million dollars in aid unless Swaziland enacted a law to outlaw trafficking.

As I reported in June 2009, women and children in Swaziland are bought and sold for sex, domestic servitude and forced labour, Swazi boys are trafficked for forced labour in commercial agriculture and market vending. Some Swazi women are forced into prostitution in South Africa and Mozambique after voluntarily travelling to these countries in search of work

After the threat from the Americans, the Swazi Government has passed a law in an attempt to curb trafficking.

The ITUC also reported that Swaziland has the worst record on workers’ rights in the Southern African Customs Union region.

SWAZILAND RUSHES SEX TRAFFIC LAW

The Americans have stepped up the pressure on Swaziland to pass a law to outlaw human trafficking in the kingdom.

The Swazis have been given a deadline of mid September to get their house in order. If they don’t aid worth up to 200 million dollars could be withdrawn.

As I reported in June 2009, women and children in Swaziland are bought and sold for sex, domestic servitude and forced labour, Swazi boys are trafficked for forced labour in commercial agriculture and market vending. Some Swazi women are forced into prostitution in South Africa and Mozambique after voluntarily travelling to these countries in search of work.

Despite ample evidence that this was going on the Swazi Government did nothing about it, so the United States intervened to force Swaziland’s hand.

Now Swaziland’s illegally-appointed Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini has announced the House of Assembly will rush through a new law outlawing human trafficking, because he fears losing up to 200 million dollars of US aid.

We should be pleased that some attempt is being made to address the issue of forced labour, but we shouldn’t expect a good job to be down on the parliamentary bill. The Swazi Parliament is pretty hopeless when it comes to drafting legislation because often members of parliament don’t understand what it is that is before them. Just look at the mess they made last year with the Suppression of Terrorism Act and even today, four years after it was enacted, many parliamentarians can’t understand the Swaziland Constitution.

Here’s a flavour of the new People Trafficking and People Smuggling Bill: if passed it will be illegal for anyone to promise someone a lucrative job or marriage and fail to provide such a job whilst the worker is then far from home. Can someone explain to me what that actually means?

A sign of what might lay ahead come this week when MPs discussed the proposed new law and said it was dangerous to agree to it as it would set a bad precedent to have another country tell Swazis what to do.

Others saw the new law as an attack on Swazi culture. MP Petros Mavimbela told the House of Assembly that ‘sometimes we marry people without the need to ask for their permission as such is the Swazi culture’.

The clock is ticking. The Swazi House of Assembly has until 13 September to meet its deadline. Who would bet on them to make it?

US EXPOSES SWAZI CHILD SEX TRADE

Women and children in Swaziland are bought and sold for sex, domestic servitude and forced labour, and the Swazi Government is doing nothing about it, according to an international report just published.

The cities of Mbabane and Manzini are the centres of trafficking of girls, particularly orphans, for sex.

Swazi boys are trafficked for forced labour in commercial agriculture and market vending. Some Swazi women are forced into prostitution in South Africa and Mozambique after voluntarily travelling to these countries in search of work.

The report from the US State Department also says Chinese organized crime units get victims in Swaziland and traffic them to Johannesburg, South Africa, where they ‘distribute’ victims locally or send them on to be exploited overseas.

Mozambican boys travel to Swaziland for work washing cars, herding livestock, and portering; some of these boys subsequently become victims of trafficking.

According to the US State Department, ‘The government of Swaziland does not comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so.

‘The government believes that trafficking probably does occur, but does not know the extent of the problem.

‘Its limited resources were directed towards other issues because the government does not judge trafficking to be an “important” problem, a judgment which significantly limited the government’s current efforts to eliminate human trafficking, or to plan anti-trafficking activities or initiatives for the future.’

The report goes on, ‘The government made no effort to investigate or prosecute trafficking offenses during the year. While Swaziland has no law specifically prohibiting trafficking, existing statutes prohibiting acts such as kidnapping, forced and compulsory labor, confiscation of passports, aiding and abetting “prohibited immigrants” to enter the country, brothel keeping, procurement for prostitution, sex or solicitation of sex with an underage girl, and employing children under the age of 15 could be used to prosecute trafficking offenses, but were not.’

The report adds, ‘There were no government programs which provided services specifically to victims of trafficking, and the government continued to depend on NGOs to provide shelter, referral, counseling, and other care for victims.’

The US has now placed Swaziland on a ‘watchlist’ and the kingdom might face sanctions unless its record improves.

To read the full report click here.