WORKERS AND EMPLOYERS HAVE QUESTIONED LABOUR MINISTER BUTHELEZI ON THE APPOINMENT OF ENPF BOARD CHAIRPERSON

 

Pictured above: Derrick Shiba,the Chairperson of the ENPF Board of Directors (Picture credit: Online sources)

Written by Fundizwi Sikhondze 

The appointment of businessman Derrick Shiba to the position of chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Eswatini National Provident Fund (ENPF) has come under heavy criticism by the social partners, the business and labour federations. The Minister of Labour and Social Security Phila Buthelezi has however put up strong defence by sarcastically asking them to go to court if not satisfied with the decision. 

Mr Shiba is otherwise known as the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Inyatsi Group of Companies. He is also known to own and run a Eswatini Premier League football team called Nsingizini Hotspur.

The social partners' first reaction to the appointment of the board was to notify Minister Buthelezi of their discontent about the appointment and they also sought a consultative engagement with him regarding the matter. The proposed engagement is reported to have been suggested on or around Monday 17th November 2025. However, before the end of the week of the 15th November Minister Buthelezi is reported to have responded to the social partners by turning down the request for a consultative engagement citing pressing national commitments. The minister didn’t suggest any alternative date on which the consultation could be held. 

In the aftermath of that period the social partners are reported to have then stepped up their pressure on the minister a notch by releasing a public statement on 2nd December 2025 wherein they made public their grievances about the board appointment particularly the appointment of the non-representative chairperson, amongst several concerns. According to the Eswatini Observer (03/12/2025) the social partners further informed the public in their statements of their resolution to "hold their board participation in abeyance" while their concerns continue being ignored by Minister Buthelezi.

Then on 5th December 2025 Minister Buthelezi released a statement wherein he outrightly dismissed the social partner's assertion that the appointment of the board chairperson was irregular by stating that the appointment of the chairperson as well as of other individuals into different statutory bodies was done within the ambits of the law. He added that no power was exercised outside the legal framework in the appointment. He dismissively implored them to take the matter to the court if they felt aggrieved. he further defended Mr Shiba by stating, "Mr Shiba is a respected national entrepreneur whose contribution to job creation and economic activity in Eswatini is well recognised".

Pictured above: Minster Phila Buthelezi (third from right) and newly appointed board of the ENPF

Board quorum

Their unavailability of the social partners in the board will definitely render the board non-functional as it would legally not be able to form a quorum without the social partners. The SNPF Order ,1974, provides that the quorum of the board is five (5) members amongst whom there must be one representative of the for employers and another for workers. A prolonged impairment of the board's ability to perform is likely adversely affect the ENPF at a crucial time when the issue of the conversion of the ENPF from a provident fund to a pension fund is at a crucial legislative stage.