Eswatini Labour Insight

Picture: NAPSAWU President Oscar Nkambule addressing delegates of the NAPSAWU Midterm Conference in April 2022. Written by Fundizwi Sikhondze  The National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU) President Oscar Nkambule recently urged members of NAPSAWU to fight so that wealth can be shifted from the Tinkhundla looters to the working class and its allies. The president was speaking to delegates at the NAPSAWU Midterm Conference held in Matsapha and that sat on the 21st and 22nd April 2022. The conference was held under the theme, "Building the union capacity to improve workers conditions and to deepen working class consciousness".  The midterm conference was attended by over 200 delegates of NAPSAWU representing branches and structures from the length and breath of the country. In attendance were also local and international guests that included representatives from the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA), the Swaziland National Government Accountants Perso...

  Picture: SWADNU President Welcome Mdluli addressing workers (Nurses) during the International Nurses Day gathering hosted by SWADNU on 12 May 2022 in eNhlangano. Written by Fundizwi Sikhondze The president of the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) Welcome Mdluli threw a challenge to SWADNU members to stand up and defend their workplace and human rights against the exploitative Tinkhundla government. The president was speaking during a gathering of the nurses union ,in the southern town of eNhlangano on the 12th May 2022, to mark the International Nurses Day 2022 (#IND2022). In his impassionate address he first addressed the lack of unity within SWADNU and alerted attendees of the #IND2022 gathering that the union cannot afford to go to court every other day ,saying "We are brothers and sisters we cannot afford to fight each other forever ".  The president then threw the gauntlet to the nurses imploring them to act in the face of their conditions of employment slippi...

  TEXTILE WORKERS IN NHLANGANO TOWN ,ESWATINI  VOW TO CONTINUE THEIR E15.00 AN HOUR STRUGGLE. Fundizwi Sikhondze Coordinator 02 May 2022 Textile workers in their mass meeting on 02 May 2022 at Tfokotani outside eNhlangano Workers in the garment/textile sector today in eNhlangano, in the south of eSwatini/Swaziland, spoke unanimously that their strike action was continuing and therefore they were not going back to work until they were paid as per their demanded E15 per an hour. The workers are organised by the Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland (ATUSWA). The estimated 1500 workers held their mass meeting on the grounds of the Tfokotane Community Centre a few kilometres away from the Mahamba border, with at least a few thousand of them having walked on foot from eight kilometres away in Nhlangano town. Despite their challenging circumstances having gone the first month without income the spirit of the workers was high as they chanted slogans to show their support of the re...

Sikelela Ngwenya makes a comeback as President of NAWUSHI  Picture: Newly elected President of NAWUSHI Comrade Sikelela Ngwenya (Picture courtesy of Comrade Sikelela on Facebook) Written by Fundizwi Sikhondze Comrade Sikelela Ngwenya has made a comeback as the president of the National Workers Union in Swaziland Higher Institutions (NAWUSHI). This after getting elected to the position at their 1st quadrennial conference that took place at eSibayeni lodge in Matsapha on the 24th and 25th March 2022. To win the position comrade Sikelela beat off a stiff challenge  from Comrade Simon Dlamini from the Sebenta National Institute branch of NAWUSHI.  Comrade Sikelela is one of two  leaders of the previous NEC that were re-elected into the new NEC in the conference. The other NEC member that made it back is comrade Mpendulo Mkhonta  and he retained the position of Vice Treasurer. It is worth noting that Comrade Sikelela had previously served in the same position of...

NAPSAWU DELIVERS A PROGRESSIVE SOLIDARITY MESSAGE TO NAWUSHI ELECTIVE CONFERENCE   The National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU) through its Organising Secretary Comrade Mduduzi Shabangu (Pictured above) delivered a strong solidarity message to delegates of the NAWUSHI's 1st quadrennial conference that  took place on the 24th as wee as 25th March 2022 at eSibayen Lodge in Matsapha. In his address Comrade Mduduzi first praised the leadership of NAWUSHI for always demonstrating  progressive and decisive collaborative co-existence with NAPSAWU both at TUCOSWA and Public Service International(PSI) level. NAPSAWU, NAWUSHI and SWADNU are the current affiliates of the PSI in Eswatini. Comrade Mduduzi's then went on to  highlight that there were similarities between the struggles facing NAWUSHI  as well as those facing NAPSAWU particularly because both unions organise in the public sector, where the intransigence of employers towards genuine worker dema...

  Minister of Public Service Mabulala Maseko publicly threatens the  expulsion public threat against public service workers fighting for their rights Fundizwi Sikhondze   eSwatini Public Services Minister Mabulala Maseko (L), The eSwatini Flag (R). The eSwatini Minister of Public Service Mabulala Maseko today (Tuesday 14th December 2021) issued a threat to public servants who seek to exercise their trade union and workers rights to fight for a salary review from the government of eSwatini. The Minister was speaking on the national radio station during the morning current affairs programme "Letishisako".  Maseko accused civil servants of having joined the fight for political parties and has asked them to leave the public service if they want to pursue political party related matters. The Minister promised to take drastic measures (nalo lilahle kubo or A fireball is coming their way) against civil servants who they (as government) suspect to be members of political org...

  eSwatini government moves to derecognise public sector trade unions. Fundizwi Sikhondze Pic: eSwatini Police violently dispersing 22 October 2021 PSA protest in Mbabane (Courtesy Picture) In the midst of efforts to reconcile warrying forces inside eSwatini by stakeholders such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) ,the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN) to have eSwatini attain lasting peace after a year filled with civil unrest , the government is reported to be making moves to derecognise Public Sector Associations (PSAs).  This moves is definitely  set to lead to hostilities with trade unions and by extension with civil servants, the international trade union movement reminiscent of previous instances where tensions played out in the international platforms such as the International Labour Organisation (ILO) meetings in Geneva. In previous occasions eSwatini temporarily lost access to the markets in the United States of America (USA) when th...