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SFTU Report on the Swaziland Political Situation 27 August 1998 - MOTIVE To update, inform and network the international community about the latest political situation in Swaziland. To appeal for assistance for the acquisition of an irreversible, participatory, all-inclusive, people-driven democratic dispensation. To highlight what pro-democratic forces including SFTU propose as an acceptable way forward. FOCUS This document will focus on the labour, socio-economic and political situation in Swaziland as from February 1998. PREAMBLE The SFTU is a democratic organisation, and, as such, allergic to undemocratic systems of governance - whether they be military, feudal, aristocratic or dictatorial. The SFTU believes that government is a social contract between the governing and the governed. We also believe that governing should do so with the mandate of the governed. The SFTU believes that a multi-party environment is the best system of governance, because it allows opposition and dissenting views to be heard. The SFTU believes that no democracy can exist within a state of emergency when free political activity and the bill of rights are banned. The SFTU does not believe in cosmetic changes, but needs a true all-inclusive, participatory and people-driven process. The SFTU believes that human rights are not situational, but are the birthright for all of humanity, irrespective of where they come from (Swaziland included). And, of course, the SFTU believes that workers everywhere are a vehicle for social transformation. In February this year (1998), when Parliament was opened, there were two outstanding processes, one of which was the re-drafting of the Industrial Relations Act and the cosmetic Constitutional Review Commission to address the democratic dispensation in Swaziland. The other outstanding feature this year was that 1998 is the year of elections. At this juncture , we were assured that an industrial relations law that would be in full compliance with the ILO standard would be processed and finalised shortly. THE INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS BILL Following three years of both internal and international pressure on the Swazi Government concerning drawing up an Industrial Relations Act which would be in compliance with the dictates of the ILO Conventions, particularly Conventions 87 and 98 which Government had voluntarily ratified, international pressure has come from many international organizations. I will mention just a few :
Locally the pressure was applied by the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions and other pro-democratic groups and occasionally the employers. After a drafting committee was assembled from the social partners, with the assistance of the ILO experts, a draft was produced and was completed in March 1998. The hopes and expectations of the social partners, the ILO and the other partners were that the bill would be law before the 86th Session of the ILO. The SFTU continued to pressurise but intransigence showed its head. Just a few days before the Conference in Geneva began, there was an announcement on possible dissolution of parliament, made by the Chief Electoral Officer. Immediately this announcement was made, the SFTU wrote to the Prime Minister (Dr Barnabas Dlamini) seeking clarification on the announcement, and also tabling a demand whose essence was:
Unfortunately, to date the Prime Minister has not responded to this concern. The second aspect of this issue was that the Swazi delegation to the Geneva Conference met the Minister for Enterprise and Employment to discuss the concerns of the social partners, namely that:
In Geneva it was unfortunate that when the Minister, who arrived almost two weeks after the Geneva Conference had started, had nothing to report since he had no Cabinet minutes confirming his undertaking. During the hearing in the Committee of the Application of Standards, the Minister was grilled and made an undertaking to the effect that:
CONCLUSIONS OF THE ILO COMMITTEE IN THE APPLICATION OF STANDARDS
TACTICAL DELAYS It is disheartening to report that upon arrival, other forms of delaying tactics were employed, in the following manner:
After they had finished, we were told that :
We insisted that whatever is done be finalised urgently. Indeed the submissions were considered by the drafting committee in four days and the bill was then left with the Cabinet. But still we insisted that the Draft should be gazetted and be accorded the certificate of urgency status, so that the dissolution of Parliament deadline be beaten. Upon completion of this task, Government approved a bill, but failed to award a certificate of urgency. Subsequent to this act of intransigence, Parliament was dissolved on the 12th of August 1998. This therefore means the bill cannot become law. A Labour Advisory Board was assembled to bring pressure to bear on Government, offering the following options:
We saw the whole state of affairs as having been deliberately created by Government because of its lack of sensitivity to the needs of the working masses. Otherwise these could have been easily avoided.
Worse still, most of the Cabinet Ministers have lost candidature in the nominations for the elections to the next Parliament, and, as such, will not have any incentive to be positive about the labour law. Because of this state of affairs we have called a mass meeting on the 30th of August, where resolutions will be taken for a final onslaught to achieve an industrial relations act that will be in conformity with the dictates of international labour standards. We believe that the taste of the pudding is in the eating. Until we have the product we shall not rest. In the first 5 years we had many promises and processes without any product or delivery. DEMOCRATIC DISPENSATION PROCESS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES Following the fact that in 1996 the King appointed a "Constitutional Review Commission" (CRC) which was supposed to be a vehicle masterminding the democratic dispensation, this same vehicle was given by decree two years in which to complete its task, which two years were due to elapse in July this year (1998). Again in February 1998, it was announced that there shall be national elections in October. This announcement was made before the Constitutional Review Commission had been evaluated. APATHY OF THE PRO-DEMOCRATIC GROUPS ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW COMMISSION (CRS) The fact is that, due to its undemocratic nature, this structure was not given a good reception by the people. The structure remains non-inclusive, but continues to operate in the presence of the state of emergency. The structure was not participatory, and was overloaded with traditionalists, royalists, chiefs and close relatives of the crown. Out of 33 delegates, there were only four progressives. The terms of reference of this structure were decreed and disallowed group participation and submission by groups or formations whether political or non-political - only individuals were expected to submit to this forum. All these undemocratic attributes of this structure caused the democratic alliance to disassociate themselves from it and to condemn the process as cosmetic and only meant to deceive the international community, and to leave them with illusion that there is a democratic dispensation process in place in Swaziland. We condemn this hypocrisy with the maximum contempt it deserves. THE ISSUE OF ELECTIONS The progressive forces took a resolution to boycott the elections and further engage in a campaign against elections. The progressive alliance include the following civil society organizations, both political and non-political: students, unions, employers, farm dwellers, street vendors, human rights organisations, women, youth, the Law Society, disadvantaged groups and many others. REASONS FOR OBJECTING TO NATIONAL ELECTIONS
THE PEOPLE’S REACTION Irrespective of the pressure from the traditional structures, of the electoral officer, of propaganda and the dictates of the King, the progressive forces have re-stated their stance and resolution publicly. On the nominations weekend of the 22nd and 23rd of August 1998, in many areas where our constituents were involved there were no nominations. The voter turn-out was embarrassing to the authorities to say the least. EFFECTS OF THE NOMINATIONS APATHY
WAY FORWARD
APPEAL - We appeal for maximum pressure to be applied against the government until real people-driven and all-inclusive democracy is realised in law and in practice and enjoyed by the down-trodden of Swaziland.
Sincerely Jan J Sithole Secretary General |
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