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MBABANE – Eswatini is among the countries attending the first meeting of the BRICS Employment Working Group and Research Network Forum held in South Africa, where workers’ rights occupy centre stage.

The BRICS meeting, organised by the Department of Employment and Labour, is being held under the theme; ‘Ensuring decent work, dignity and respect for all’.

The BRICS meeting held at Misty Hills Country Hotel Conference Centre & Spa in Muldersdrift, Johannesburg, Gauteng Province started on Tuesday and will end tomorrow.

Eswatini is represented by Kingdom Mamba, who is the Deputy Commissioner of Labour and Tholi Vilakati, who is the Legal Advisor in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

BRICS is an acronym that started as BRIC in 2001, coined by Jim O’Neill (a Goldman Sachs Economist) for Brazil, China, India, and Russia.

Later in 2010, South Africa was added and it became BRICS. Goldman Sachs claimed that the global economy would be dominated by the four BRIC economies by 2050.

Though Eswatini is not part of BRICS, it was invited to the meeting by South Africa, which had since taken over the BRICS chairship from China for the period of one year.

Invitation

In an interview with this publication, Labour Commissioner Mthunzi Shabangu confirmed the invitation, stating that South Africa, as chair of the BRICS, graciously invited their immediate neighbouring States, which included the Kingdom of Eswatini, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana and Zimbabwe among others.

Shabangu said South Africa did the same in 2018 when they last chaired BRICS and Eswatini honoured the invite, even then.

Otherwise the meeting is also attended by its five member States, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) is also in attendance.

In regard to the discussions around the worker rights, South Africa Employment and Labour Deputy Minister, Boitumelo Moloi, told a