Skip to main content

THE LYNCHING OF THE SNAT PRESIDENT BY ESWATINI GOVERNMENT

 


Picture: SNAT President Mbongwa Dlamini addressing the 28-30th September 2022 SNAT Conference where he was re-elected unopposed in Matsapha, Eswatini (pic credit: SNAT Social Media Platforms)

Written by Fundizwi Sikhondze

On Tuesday the 29th August 2023 the Eswatini Government dismissed the President of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) Mbongwa Dlamini from its employment as a teacher. Their correspondence stated that, “The Commission (Teaching Service Commission) has, according to section 36(F) of the Employment Act (1980), decided to terminate your services as a teacher with immediate effect”.

The dismissal of President Mbongwa has been met with strong condemnation that point to trade union and human rights infringement. It is also viewed as only the latest harassment move by the Eswatini government to quell a popular call for democracy and restoration of full human and trade union rights. This is probably because in the lead up to his dismissal he has been subjected to intense harassment by state security apparatus more severely towards the end of the 2022. The harassment was so severe that he allegedly had to leave the country for safety for a few months between late 2022 and early. 

The charges for which he was eventually dismissed constituted at least a third attempt to charge and dismiss him. The harassment started off from the onset of his tenure as president in 2018, has relentlessly continued until now. He was as a result suspended from work in 2019 pending the finalisation of his case for a period of close to two years. When it had been proved too complex for the matter to proceed, perhaps counting on the political cost given the nature of the charges, the government then retreated, reinstated him back to work albeit in a new school, only to issue fresh in late 2022.

In June 2002 the government claimed that President Mbongwa’s issuance of a precaution to teachers against reporting to work on 29th June 2022 ,for their own safety, constituted amongst others, hatred or contempt toward the Government of Eswatini and brought the teaching service into disrepute.

Even before the ink on the new charges had dried, in October 2022 fresh charges were drawn up, this time for being absent from duty for one hundred and nine (109) consecutive days without permission from the employer. To add salt to the wound, as from November 2022, the government began withholding his salary.

The disciplinary panel commenced their sessions in late November 2022 while simultaneously the SNAT challenged the withholding of President Mbongwa’s salary at the country’s labour court. The labour court ruled in his favour and against the government in March 2023 but be that as it may the government blatantly refused to resume the payment of the President’s salary.

All these events were taking place in what turned out to be a busy political year for President Mbongwa and the SNAT who held a successful elective congress on 28th - 30th   September 2022. In this congress President Mbongwa was re-elected to the position of president unopposed and therefore with a very strong popular mandate. Such popular support within and outside the SNAT has also translated into strong mass support for him as the government tightens the noose around him.

The trade union movement led by the federation, the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) as well as affiliate trade unions together with civil society organisations have out rightly condemned the actions of the government against the SNAT President. For trade unions the dismissal of President Mbongwa is not a once off strike s another trade union leader  Sticks Nkambule the Secretary General of the Swaziland Transport, Communications and Allied Workers Union (SWATCAWU) is also currently in hiding and is suspected to be in exile trying to evade state harassment. The Secretary General of the Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland (ATUSWA) Wander Mkhonza was also suspected to have suffered the burning of his house by suspected state agents when he led workers on a strike action in the months of April and May of 2022.

 


 Picture: A poster created by the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) in support of President Mbongwa of SNAT

The plight of President Mbongwa during this whole period has attracted the attention of fraternal teachers’ organisations such as the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU), the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ), the Southern African Teachers Organisation (SATO) as well as the global federation for teachers unions, the Education International (EI).  The Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) has also used the ILO reporting mechanism to report the case within the ILO system.

For now it is comforting that the SNAT through the Secretary General Lot Vilakati has already affirmed their full support for President Mbongwa particularly in the sense that the dismissal will not affect the president’s serving his full term in the union until the end in 2026. This is an important push back against the government, the employer, not to be allowed to determine the agenda and leadership of trade unions.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NAPSAWU HAS SUSPENDED THREE NATIONAL OFFICE BEARERS

Written by Staff Reporter The National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU) National General Council (NGC) ,on Thursday 15 th February 2024, suspended three of its National Office Bearers (NOBs), two of whom are believed to be principal officers. Principal Officers number up to three in trade unions and are the President, General Secretary and the Treasurer. The suspension of two of them may therefore demonstrate the seriousness of the matter just barely six months since the current NOBS took office in August 2023. The suspension of the trio is reported to have come after it had been discovered that they were one way or another involved in alleged misappropriation of undisclosed NAPSAWU funds believed to  amounting to more than one hundred thousand and seventy thousands (more than E170 000) emalangeni. The funds according to reliable sources are believed to have been approved funds for union activities but were later discovered to have been diverted into pers...
Post a Comment
Read more

The history of Swaziland Labour Law

1.    THE HISTRORY OF SWAZI LABOUR LAW – BY NATHI GUMEDE It is difficult to proceed with issues of individual and collective Swazi Labour law without outlining the key events in the history of the Swazi Labour Movement. Though by no means comprehensive and very accurate, here are some events that have shaped Swazi Labour Law. 1937 – Wages Determining Proclamation 1947 – Trade Union Dispute Proclamation No 31 of 1942 1960 – F.C. Catchpole Commission on Labour Relations Socialization reports absence of trade unions 1962 – Pulp and Timber Worker’s Union established with Pan-Africanist influence as the first trade union; the union called the first strike the same year 1963 - Second Strike of the Pulp and Timber Worker’s Union spread into a National Strike (66,000 man hours). The National strike led to the formation of the Swaziland Democratic party and the Swaziland Progressive Party. The strike was thwarted by the First Battalion of Gordon Highlands from Ken...
Post a Comment
Read more

OPINION: PRIME MINISTER RUSSELL DLAMINI VS AUDITOR GENERAL TIMOTHY MATSEBULA

  Eswatini Prime Minister Russell Dlamini (L) and Auditor General Timothy Matsebula (R) during their meeting in the cabinet offices in March 2024. (Picture courtesy of Eswatini government social media platform) Written by Fundizwi Sikhondze Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini on Thursday 6th June 2024 may have single-handedly plunged his government into its first major political crisis.  While fielding questions from the country's editors the Prime Minister was asked a question by  The Nation Magazine's Bheki Makhubu about  the audit reports from the Auditor General (AG) regarding his tenure as the Chief Executive Officer of the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA). The audits had allegedly flagged unaccounted for expenditure of E180M worth of funds and lately there a report which questioned expenditure of E30M from the NDMA.     Prime Minister's reply left his audience of journalist and cabinet ministers gasping as perhaps none were ready for i...
Post a Comment
Read more