ATUSWA'S WANDER MKHONZA CALLS FOR MORE ATTENTION ON SWAZILAND

ATUSWA Secretary General Comrade Wander Mkhonza addressing the IndustriALL Mid Term Policy Conference in Capetown ,South Africa (Picture courtesy of IndustriALL)

Written by Fundizwi Sikhondze

 The Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland (ATUSWA) Secretary General Comrade Wander Mkhonza ,on Tuesday 20th June 2023, addressed the midterm policy conference of the IndustriALL Global Union currently sitting in Cape Town, South Africa where he called for more attention to be bestowed to the repressed workers in Swaziland by the global union.

ATUSWA together with the Swaziland Electricity Supply and Maintenance Workers Union (SESMAWU) are the two Swaziland affiliates of the IndustriALL Global Union.

Secretary General Wander drew the conference's attention to the repression that workers face in Swaziland through state repression as well as through the courts. He credited the notorious 1973 decree as the source of the repression in the country to the extent that even when laws are crafted an escape route is created so that in application the rights given in that law are a myth (and therefore inapplicable). 

The SG added that the trade union movement is now the only remaining vehicle for change in Swaziland given the absence of free political activities brought about by the banning of political parties through the 1973 decree. He relayed that the trade union movement is also facing challenges because they does not enjoy guaranteed rights to freedom of association. He said, "Political parties and banned and all political activists as well as trade unionists are persecuted and harassed".

The SG added that with reference to the legal system the courts are used to repress workers. He cited two occasions whereby the worker organising activities of ATUSWA have been successfully interdicted by employers in the courts which  he said was baffling to ATUSWA because these organising activities take place outside the premises of companies. 

He ended by urging the midterm policy conference to speak strongly about the issue of Swaziland and not let the issue of Swaziland be forgotten. He said "We still suffer a lot, comrades are killed, comrades' properties are burnt in order to silence and suppress them. We are of the opinion comrades that this policy conferences must recommit itself in fighting for  the fundamental rights everywhere because we believe that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere".

The IndustriALL midterm policy conference will run until Thursday 22 June 2023.