FORMER NAWUSHI AND SFTU PRESIDENT SAM LUMANYOKA SHONGWE INTERVIEW

 

Samuel Shongwe Interview

Sam "Lumanyoka"Shongwe at the 2022 NAWUSHI Congress

Samuel Shongwe (popularly known as LumaNyoka) has enjoyed what could be regarded as a successful trade union career spanning more than two decades. In that period he not only led the local trade union at the University of eSwatini (UNESWA) but he also went on to lead the national federation, the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU) from 2004 to 2008. 

For those who may have forgotten, the SFTU was the processor to the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) which was established in 2012.

After serving the SFTU Sam continued to serve the union National Workers Union in Swaziland Higher Institutions (NAWSUHI) a union formerly known as the Swaziland union of Non Academic Staff for Higher Institutions (SUNASHI).He led NAWUSHI until early 2022 when he handed the baton of leadership to a new collective led by Sikelela Ngwenya, his erstwhile deputy.

To reflect on his career in the trade union movement and community development he recently sad down with the ELI and answered our questions.  

1.   Eswatini Labour Insight (ELI): Can you share how you started out in the trade union movement, and what prompted you to become active in the trade union?

Sam Shongwe (SS): Well, I cannot recall the exact year when I joined the union, but I had always been active in the community on matters of development from a younger age and I had developed the love of people and development. 

I would say that is what drove me to the union at the workplace.

2.   ELI: How did you ascend to the national leadership and eventually to be the president of Swaziland Union of Non-Academic Staff for Higher Institutions (SUNASHI), at that time?

SS: I was first elected to be a shop steward at my section, the library. After a while I got elected to the National Executive Committee (NEC). At that time the President was Themba Msibi (Current Lubombo Regional Administrator) and I joined the NEC he led at that time.

 

3.   ELI: What were the conditions of workers and the most topical issues at that time?

SS: One of the first challenges we encountered when we were elected into the NEC was how defensive some members of the NEC were around issues of embezzlement of union funds by the president at that time. I was very vocal about those issues.

At the time we were most concerned with the conditions of workers in terms of salaries as well as with their ability to provide proper housing for themselves and families during the period when they are still in active service of employment. The concerning trend at that time was that most workers could only build decent houses (or homes) upon receiving their pension lump sum payments. Such further eroded their meagre pensions yet the pension should naturally provide much needed social security in the twilight years.

Some of the challenges we encountered as we implemented these programmes included the fact that some of the workers squandered some of these monies and never actually built these homes yet continued to be burdened with the repayment.

 

4.   ELI:Then eventually you ascended to be president of SUNASHI. Can you please outline briefly the issues that were at the top of the union agenda when you took over as president of SUNASHI and how those issues were resolved?

 SS: At that time the University was still in a sound financial position than today and issues such as negotiations for salaries were relatively easy to conduct.

To increase the visibility of the union as well as its popularity amongst members we started acquiring trade union regalia and held annuals farewell functions for members going into retirement.  We also held social events locally and as well as internationally to get members to know one another to build unity within the unity.

Challenges we encountered include divisions that afflict the union from time to time. These include situations when branch officials at times regard the NEC to have too much power and branches not utilising funds correctly and these necessitated that resources need to be pulled centrally.

There are also continuing perceptions that NAWUSHI is dominated by UNESWA some elements continue to harbour such perceptions that bring division to the union. Hopefully with time people will understand how NAWUSHI operates as a trade union representing all workers of tertiary institutions.

 

ELI: What were some of the memorable highlights in your tenure as the President

SS: Negotiations in the other institutions of higher learning have been successful. Some institutions didn’t have proper salary structures before and some were finding it difficult to improve the working conditions of workers. In SANU we have been to resolve a long-standing salary review impasse and issues related to the junior lecturers who could not be promoted to full lecturer even after acquiring Masters Qualifications.  

During our time we came to learn that for efficient delivery it was important to have strong Branch Executive Committees (BEC’s) in the branches or institutions that advance the work of the union together with the NEC.  In our last tenure in office the BEC of SANU was one such an exemplary strong BEC that makes the job of the NEC easier.

Sam Shongwe with former NAWUSHI 2nd Deputy Secretary General Comrade Nonhlanhla Nhlabatsi

5.   ELI: From the year 2004, or there about, you were elected as the president of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU) where you served with the likes of the late Jan Sithole, Albert Masilela, Esaw Gamedze, the late Archie Sayed and the current TUCOSWA SG Mduduzi Gina, to name but a few.

What were the key some of the key challenges that you encountered during this period as well as the highlights during the period?

SS: My election to be the president of the SFTU was highly unexpectedly going into the congress. I was lobbied by several union affiliate leaders to stand in order to dilute the dominance of the Swaziland Agriculture, Plantations and Allied Workers Union (SAPAWU) at that time. Being elected gave me the privilege to work with the like of Jan J. Sithole and others.

The NEC we served in was powerful and it achievements numerous things on behalf of workers, including the introduction of social dialogue for the first time in the country.

It was also a period characterised by difficult moments such as when several trade unions had unceremoniously left the federation in previously periods. During our term in office, we made all efforts to engage them and to bring them back into the fold of the federation as affiliates.

A challenge encountered was that we were also soon to understand that the political parties were quite weak and relied on activities of the SFTU to have an outlet. Eventually the SFTU found itself at the centre of a political storm with political parties seeking to enforce their manifestos on the workers federation.  

The leadership engaged political parties on a bilateral basis and the outcomes was quite positive.  

Another challenge was that there was always less commitment from unions to honour their subscribe into the federation which hampered the federation’s ability to implement activities and programmes. This rendered the federation too reliant on international donors.

We started efforts to unite all trade unions under one federation. We engaged unions that had been expelled from the SFTU (at that time) as well as unaffiliated unions like SNAT. We believe that these efforts initiated the process towards the eventual formation of TUCOSWA (in 2012).

 

6. ELI: We also understand that you also served as a board member of the Swaziland National Provident Fund (SNPF) (now the eSwatini National Provident Fund (ENPF) for two terms representing workers. What were the major achievements that the board achieved during that period?

SS: One recalls that there were three workers reps at that time (Two from SFTU and one from SFL) and it was a vibrant board. It was during the tenure that achievements such as the burial fund and projects such as the Manzini parkade were initiated.

We were also instrumental to drafting legislation (with ILO assistance) and were preparing for the ENPF to convert into a full pension fund. The idea driving this conversion was that the provident fund allows members to receive a one off pay out yet a pension fund allows workers to keep getting paid every month.

Workers on provident funds lose out from benefitting from assets of the fund built during their membership period. Pension Funds members, on the other hand, get payments every month for the rest of their lives after retirement. We were able to benchmark the national pension fund in Tanzania.

One is of the view that political interference (or lack of a political will) has continued to sabotage this initiative up to now.

Sam Shongwe, third from left (back) with the NAWUSHI NEC in Johannesburg South Africa in 2019.

ELI: In 2019 you were also elected into the University of eSwatini (UNESWA) Council as the non-academic staff representative. It is understood that your confirmation into this responsibility was blocked by the recently redeployed chairperson, Prince David. It is further alleged that you successfully petitioned the courts on the matter to no avail as the Prince David council didn’t yield to allow your membership of the council.

 Please tell us more on this issue and how you see its resolution going forward.

 SS: All this happened because Prince David (the recently reshuffled UNESWA Council Chairperson) decided to be hostile to the union from the moment he took the reigns.

He first wanted to arbitrarily withhold Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA), arguing that since UNESWA was running low on funds the institution would not be able to offer COLA to workers going forward. Since NAWUSHI openly disagreed with the proposal, the Prince then developed a negative attitude towards NAWUSHI and towards me for not toeing the line.

 After one meeting discussing the same issue and us strongly raising our displeasure at the prince in his handling of the COLA some in UNESWA management even requested that we as NAWUSHI must apologies to the Chairperson which we also refused to do.

Well after the court had ruled in my favour they (UNESWA) appealed the court decision an appeal with has not gone to court. However since I no longer serve in the union we have gone to court for the court to declare their appeal academic so that I can take up my position. (Sam is now a fulltime active member of the UNESWA council representing non academic workers)

 

ELI: In totality how would you describe your entire trade union leadership and what were your major achievements as well as challenges in your entire trade union journey?

SS: At times hostile employers hamper the operation of trade unions as they try to improve the conditions of workers. We faced the SANU on the question of transforming workers from junior lecturer to lecturers was only resolved after the intervention of Parliament and the Minister of education.

Challenges encountered include hostile employers are a big challenge and they never accept things as they. For instance in SANU the institution was hostile to workers being improved from junior lecturers to full lectures. We had to involve the Ministry of education to exert pressure on the institution to resolve the challenge.

There are also challenges in relations to the lack of funds for salaries and benefits in institutions of late. The Public Enterprises Union (PEU) Act and its circulars have come to be the deciding instruments for COLA. Institutions such as UNESWA have gone to the extent of not being able to remit deducted monies to creditors which affected workers and their ability to run their personal affairs such as educating their children.

 

ELI: Earlier in the year 2022 you handed the baton of leadership of NAWUSHI to a new leadership collective. What urgent issues need to be tackled by the new leadership of NAWUSHI in your view?

SS: I think the urgent task now is the issue of funding. Funding is a precariously critical issue, even at the pension has a deficit of over E200 Million which has affected the payouts to pensioners. The new NAWUSHI leadership should redouble efforts towards the recapitalisation of UNESWA.

The situation in untenable and the UNESWA can be shut down at any time. If that moment come at this point I am pretty sure that the UNESWA pension fund would not be able to pay those workers their dues.

 

1  ELI: Lastly, what future role do you see yourself playing in the trade union movement as well as in the larger society?

SS: Overall we hope that we will complement the agenda of the union to, for instance stop retrenchments and generally fight workers. Further, because I am pursuing a law qualification, I hope that I will be able to continue assisting the union where I have been requested to assist.

In the society I have moved over time form working on development issues to senior committees within my committee and I am now serving in the community appeals committee that reports directly to the chief.

I can also say that I am being lobbied by community members to stand for political office in the next elections. I have still not made up my mind as to whether I will participate in those elections since there are a lot of things taking place in the country in the political arena at this point.

ELI: Thank You Comrade President and all the best in your future endeavours.

SS: You are welcome.

 

-The End-