Eswatini Labour Insight

Picture: SNAT President Mbongwa Dlamini (Image courtesy of SNAT platform) As of Wednesday 30th September 2023 the President of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) Mbongwa Ernest Dlamini (pictured above) has been fired by the Teaching Services Commission (TSC) of the Ministry of Education on behalf of the Government of Eswatini. These news were announced by the SNAT Secretary General Lot Gadaffi Vilakati in the morning of the 30th August 2023 in Mbabane.  Comrade Lot announced the unfortunate news to scores of workers that had gathered  at the Ministry of Public Service office block for a protest organised by the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) to decry the shortage of health workers and key medicines in the public health system in Mbabane. Secretary General Lot added that SNAT will stick with the president through and through and that if the government was fatally mistaken if they thought president Mbongwa would be discarded or disowned by SNAT now that he

Fundizwi Sikhondze Publishing Editor The month of August of every year is recognised as the international month for youth. Specifically, the United Nations (UN) has designated and  recognise the 12th of August for each year as the International Youth Day (IYD) and each year IYD is embellished with a theme to guide the global focus within the youth scope.  The theme for the 2023 IYD ,as pronounced by the United Nations (UN), was "Green Skills for Youth, Towards a Sustainable World".  The IYD 2023 came into being in the backdrop of an International Labour Organisation (ILO) 2022 report titled , Global Employment Trends for Jobs for Youth report. The report suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected young people in the job market around the globe. Some of the ways jobs for youth were found to have been affected include through the disruption to their education and training leading to inadequate preparedness for the world of work. The report also states that young p

Written by Fundizwi Sikhondze                         Publishing Editor On Monday 7th August, in Mbabane the capital of Eswatini, the World Bank Group (the bank) released a report on the Eswatini economy and state owned enterprises in Eswatini titled ,"Economic update  , Raising the game with efficient public enterprises". The report is split into two sections, the first section titled ,"Recent General Economic Developments" carried out an economic assessment of the country and then offered recommendations aimed at assisting the country to improve its economic performance. The second section, titled "Efficient State Owned Enterprises can boost Economic Growth" ,dealt with SOE's and then offered recommendations on how to improve the function and performance of SOE's in the country. Economic Developments Overall the bank suggested that the fiscal space in the country was improving but that more reforms were needed to maintain the upward trajectory. 

TUCOSWA President Bheki Mamba preparing to address the NAPSAWU Delegates Congress in Matsapha on 19th July 2023.  Written by Fundizwi Sikhondze The President of the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUOCOSWA) Bheki  Mamba has called for the absolute unity in NAPSAWU in order that NAPSAWU ,as well as all TUCOSWA affiliate unions, can be  strong  campaigning unions. The President made the call while addressing the elective congress of the National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU) in Matsapha on the 19th July 2023.  The President further informed delegates that the strength and unity of trade unions is now increasingly curtailed by union members battling one another in the courts to resolve disagreements within the unions. In Siswati the president added said, " Sizabalaza etinkantolo, umcashi ukhulekile silwa sodvwa"  adding that the courts had already failed to resolve worker issues and they will never be able to resolve them but continued to bleed trade union

The premier university in the country, the University of Eswatini (UNESWA), has reached a 4% wage increment agreement and well as notch increments with trade union NAWUSHI for the 2023/24 financial year. As part of the agreement workers who have not yet reached the maximum levels in their pay scale will be moved to the next level (notch).    The National Workers Union in Swaziland Higher Institutions (NAWUSHI) represents workers such as general labourers, artisanal ,technical , junior library and clerical workers. According to a 25th July 2023 the memorandum issued by the UNESWA Registrar Dr Salebona S. Simelane on  wage agreement will be backdated to April 2023 which is the period where the financial year begins. The 4% wage increment comes shortly after the workers organisations registered victory after UNESWA folded to their demands after a protracted strike action early in the year where both worker groups demanded to have their wage notches being adjusted from 2021.  The victory e