Soldiers to be paid for injury on duty

MBABANE – An attempt by the army for compensation to be paid for officers who died or were injured on duty ever since the formation of the 8(D) has been rejected. %ut, going forward, defence force personnel will now be covered for injuries and deaths suffered in the line of duty.

7he :orkmen’s &ompensation Act :&A of , which provides for the compensation and medical treat ment of workmen who suffer injury or contract disease in the course of their employment, e[cludes members of the 8mbutfo (swatini Defence )orce 8(D) .

BENEFITTING

However, proposed amendments to this piece of legislation, through the :orkmen’s &ompensation Amend ment %ill 1o. of , will result in the 8(D) members being included for purposes of also benefitting in the event of service related injuries and/ or deaths.

2ne of the principal objectives of amending the Act is to include the 8(D) as beneficiaries under the :&A.

During submissions to the House of Assembly portfolio committee on labour and social security, as part of the process of amending the Act, the 8(D) made a number of suggestions, one of which the 0embers of 3arlia ment 03s had misgivings about.

7his is the submission that the Act must operate with retrospective effect to cover for injuries and deaths that occurred since the formation of the 8(D).

A report of the portfolio committee, which has been tabled in 3arliament for consideration and adoption, states that the 03s noted that the law does not have a retrospective effect and, therefore, only new matters would be addressed by the Act once it came into effect.

PROPOSAL

³A proposal was made that the 8(D) should collate the number of claimants among their ranks and reTuest govern ment to settle these claims. A further suggestion was that a %oard could be in place to evaluate these claims and ensure that the compensation is paid to the rightful people,´ reads part of the report.

7o accommodate the 8(D) in the list of ‘workman’, a proposed amend ment to the Act reads, in Section ³7he following persons are e[cluded from the definition of ‘workman’ —

A person whose employment ● is of a casual nature and who is employed otherwise than for the purposes of the employer’s trade or business, not being a person employed for the purposes of any game or recreation and engaged or paid through a club

µµ There was a general consensus that since the country has several security forces, they might believe that they should also benefit in the same treatment that the UEDF would get from the provisions of the Bill and that this may cause challenges in the future.

An outworker, that is to say a per ● son to whom articles or materials are given out by an employer to be made up, cleaned, washed, ornamented, finished, repaired or adapted for sale on premises not under the control of the employer A domestic servant employed ●