Court orders employees to stop committing acts of violence
MBABANE – The Industrial Court has issued orders stopping employees of Gundane and Sons contracted to Montigny Investments (Pty) Ltd from committing acts of violence and blocking vehicles entering and leaving the premises of the latter in Bhunya.
The orders were issued by Acting Judge Banele Ngcamphalala yesterday at 3:45pm. This was after Usutu Forest Products Company Limited rushed to court after the employees committed acts violence in the company premises.
The orders operate on an interim basis and the matter will continue in court next Wednesday. Respondents in the matter are Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland (ATUSWA), Swaziland Agriculture and Plantations Workers Union (SAPAWU) and the national commissioner (NATCOM) of police.
Usutu Forest wants the court to interdict and restrain ATUSWA and SAPAWU from gathering unlawfully, committing acts of violence, intimidating and harassing workers and any person in the premises of the company in Bhunya and elsewhere.
The company also wants the court to interdict and restrain ATUSWA and SAPAWU from entering the premises in Bhunya and elsewhere and blocking trucks and other vehicles entering and leaving the premises.
The applicant also applied that the police be authorised and directed to take necessary steps to restore law and order to ensure compliance with the court order by dispersing any unlawful gathering. They further want the police to arrest persons committing criminal acts of any kind in their presence or otherwise, including obstruction, intimidation, harassment, abuse, assault, violence and arson.
In Usutu Forest’s founding papers, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Andrew LeRoux, informed the court that on September 26, 2022, about 30 people, members of ATUSWA, led by the Secretary General (SG), Wonder Mkhonza, together with SAPAWU Secretary General Winile Mlotsa, marched towards the company’s property.
LeRoux informed the court that the people led by Mkhonza and Mlotsa started harassing and intimidating the company’s security personnel, who were trying to control the situation.
The veracity of these allegations is still to be tested by the court. The respondents are yet to file their answering papers. They were not in court when the matter was called yesterday. Banele Gamedze of Musa M. Sibandze Attorneys represents Usutu Forest in the matter.
The purpose of the march, according to LeRoux, was to deliver a petition to the management of the company. Some of the demands were a salary increase of 20 per cent, hiring of all workers who were on probation for more than three months, night shift allowance and clear guidelines on retrenchment.
Others were free housing for all workers living on the premises and housing allowance for those living out of the premises, as well as transport allowance. The workers also called for the release of Hosea and Ngwempisi Members of Parliament, Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube respectively.
LeRoux said, after delivering the