Eswatini Labour Insight

PICTURE: SWADNU DEPUTY PRESIDENT STHEMBISO SIMELANE  SWADNU VICE PRESIDENT RCANTS HIS EXPERIENCE OF BEING DETAINED FOR PARTICIPATING IN A PEACEFUL PROTEST IN MANZINI,ESWATINI.  On Friday 15th July 2021 a protest action was called in Manzini, eSwatini  strategically coinciding with a national meeting called by the King at his residence at Lobamba. Early indications from transport returning to Lobamba from fetching the public coming back empty painted a scary picture for the King who wanted to use the meeting to demonstrate his popularity after unprecedented protests had brought the country to a standstill in previous weeks. Above all else this caused the state to move swiftly to violently suppressed the protest action.  One of the participants of the protest action and later a victim of state brutality on the day was the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) Vice President Sthembiso Kwazi Simelane. We at the Swazi Labour Insight caught up with him to  talk a...

SATUCC/ITUC-AFRICA WEBINAR - MOBILISING SOLIDARITY AND SUPPORT FOR ESWATINI PEOPLES STRUGGLES FOR GENUINE DEMOCRATISATION 09/07/21 PRESENTATION BY TUCOSWA ACTING SECRETARY GENERAL MDUDUZI GINA (pictured below) Introduction. In April 1973, the King abrogated the independence constitution which had a bill of rights inclusive of the rights for the citizens to participate in the election of a government. The King decreed that the Constitution “ has permitted the importation into our country of highly undesirable political practices alien to, and incompatible with the way of life in our society and designed to disrupt and destroy our own peaceful and constructive and essentially democratic methods of political activity; increasingly this element causes hostility , bitterness and unrest in our peaceful society”. The King thereafter bestowed absolute powers upon himself. He declared that he was from then assuming supreme power in that, “ all Legislative , Executive and Judicial powe...

  FROM THE SHOPFLOOR - OPINION The winds of democratic change and workers in Eswatini By Mduduzi Gina  TUCOSWA ACTING SECRETARY GENERAL Picture: Mduduzi Gina The 19 th of June 2021 has turned out to be a historic day in Eswatini as youths in 15 constituencies around the country gathered in their Tinkhundla Centres to deliver petitions of demands to their Members of Parliament (MPs) and their Inkhundla teams. This represented a culmination of a momentum that has been building over time, fueled in part by MPs such as Bacede Mabuza (Hosea Inkhundla) ,Mduduzi Simelane (Siphofaneni Inkhundla) and Mthandeni Dube (Ngwempisi Inkhundla) and a youth protest movement that has emerged to fight against police brutality. Workers and TUCOSWA ,in particular, may be excused for feeling vindicated during this time because the calls for change have long been associated with TUOSWA and other progressive political parties and civil society organisations, and for a good reason. For those who c...

  FROM THE SHOPFLOOR - OPINION THE ANATOMY OF POLICE BRUTALITY IN ESWATINI ACCORDING TO WORKERS Picture: Comrade Mduduzi Gina - TUCOSWA Acting Secretary General  The only genuine workers’ federation in Eswatini, the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) continues to observe the activities carried out by the youth of the country in the wake of the brutal and senseless killing of Thabani Nkomonye in the month of May 2021. Workers continue to pray for the healing of the family of Mr Nkomonye after their unexpected loss of such a young life. Workers are however elated that out of this painful episode the youth of the country, in their different formations, have finally found the strength to walk hand in hand with the rest of society to fight for a just, free and democratic Eswatini that not only respects human rights as an abstract concept but respects political and women’s rights which have been in short supply and neglected in the country for a long time. Workers org...

  SWADNU President Welcome Mdluli calls for unity amongst nurses in Eswatini and the world in International Nurses Day (12th May) address.  SWADNU President  Comrade Welcome Mdluli addressing an online commemoration of International Nurses day  on 12th May 2021. Recently elected President of the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) called for its members  to unite and move forward from its recent turbulent past characterized by internal tensions that ended up in the court system .  The President made these remarks while addressing members of SWADNU, guests and solidarity partners in an online  commemoration of the International Nurses Day on 12th  May 2021.The meeting was  guest addressed by the 2nd deputy President of the of the Democratic Nurses of South Africa (DENOSA) Comrade Thandeka Rita Msibi. Comrade President Rita reflected  heavily on the plight of Nurses in the Republic of South Africa with respect to being served with ...

The state and police in Eswatini and sometimes the military have managed to mantain silence in the country even as  the discontent against absolute rule grows by each passing day . The gruesome death of Thabani Nkomonye in the passed week and the outrage that has ensured has been a clear indication that the discontent may finally be spilling over. In the coming week from the 17th May  a series of marches and protests ,from UNESWA Students to the Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF,) are planned around the Manzini region targeting the police stations in Manzini City and Matsapha. The #JusticeforThabani hashtag is amongst the top trending topics on social network on Friday and Saturday 15th May. The death or the killing of Thabani leaves a lot of questions however there is very little uncertainty that the police either through gross negligence or or directly had a hand in the death of Thabani. The online publication the Swaziland News has already reported that the police mur...