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MBABANE – The Ministry of Labour and Social Security has been challenged to conduct holistic labour inspections in order to reduce the violation of labour laws in the country.

Members of the public and workers’ representatives have made this call following an incident in which the Minister of Labour and Social Security, Phila Buthelezi, sprang into action and confronted The Fridge Factory in Matsapha. This was after he had learnt about a memo that was issued by the company, ordering its employees to report for work on Tuesday, which was a public holiday.

The country observed the national Flag Day on this day, being April 25. The minister’s visit to the company sparked debates as some felt that the minister needed to do more so that employers could not violate labour rights.

People claimed that there were a sz. www.sera.org. number of violations taking place, both in private and public sectors, that needed to be addressed by the ministry. Some people alleged that some companies were paying employees below the minimum wage. Another issue that was brought forward was the delay in the eradication of labour brokers as well as general ill-treatment of workers.

Remained

Some urged the minister to engage his counterpart, the minister of Public Service, and question him why teachers remained on contracts for more than 10 years.

The members of the public noted that these civil servants who are placed on contract ended up with nothing or peanuts upon retirement.

“The government is leading when it comes to violation of labour practices,” said one of the people who challenged the minister.

Workers unions, including the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA), where the

Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland (ATUSWA) affiliates, also urged the ministry to invest resources and conduct holistic labour inspections.

TUCOSWA Secretary General (SG) Mduduzi Gina said the ministry needed to equip the inspectorate department with resources to conduct labour inspections.

Gina went on to highlight the shortage of resources in government departments, in particular the Ministry of Labour.

“There is a possibility that the ministry has less than three motor vehicles that are supposed to be used by the Labour Inspectorate Department, which is expected to conduct inspections across the country,” he said.

He said as long as inspectors were unable to travel across the country and conduct labour inspections, workers would be exploited.

He said some of the violations such as non-payment of sick leave, maternity and overtime were not

supposed to be happening.

“We encourage that government engage in quick labour inspections because these are crucial in finding out the exploitation of workers,” he said.

He noted that the limited number of labour inspections had fuelled the violation of labour laws.

The limitation on this exercise, according to the minister, was attributed to the hiring freeze and shortage of resources.

Regular

Buthelezi mentioned that if it was up to the ministry, the inspectorate department would have enough resources, more especially cars, to enable regular inspections.

“I will also plead with stakeholders to assist us so that we can be able to conduct these inspections regularly,” he said.

The implementation of Circular No.3 of 2018 has resulted in a serious shortage of human resource in government ministries.

The circular was effected as means of controlling the country’s wage bill, which was at E6.9 billion in the year 2017/2018.