ATUSWA’s Mkhonza blasts violation of labour laws
EZULWINI – ATUSWA Secretary General (SG) Wonder Mkhonza blasted employers who did not partake in the 2023 Labour Seminar that was hosted by CMAC yesterday.
ATUSWA is an acronym for the Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland.
Mkhonza is also a Board member of the Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration Commission (CMAC). He was making a comment following presentations by some speakers, who included Labour Commissioner Mthunzi Shabangu and Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) Executive Director Cameron Morajane. This was during the 2023 Labour Law seminar that was hosted by CMAC themed; ‘Changes in the labour market post COVID-19’.
Before Mkhonza criticised some of the employers who did not show up or send delegates to the event, he made reference to a perception that had been doing the arounds that CMAC was not serving its purpose.
Solutions
He added that while there were so many parties criticising CMAC, the very same parties were not giving solutions on how they expected CMAC to perform or resolve the challenges. Mkhonza said he came to a conclusion that the negative perceptions perpetuated against CMAC were not factual or honest. He said there were a lot of voices that claimed CMAC was not fulfilling its mandate.
The SG said due to that these voices were not giving solutions to the challenges, he believed they were a smear campaign to delay justice for the employees who might need the services of the commission.
He noted that in most cases where CMAC awards were not honoured or a matter dragged, the most affected was the low income earner. He claimed to have been exposed to a situation where a worker had been unfairly dismissed and he approached CMAC, where a certificate of unresolved dispute was issued, which then resulted in the matter being taken to court. He said court cases took forever and the worker passed on before the matter was concluded.
Statement
Mkhonza highlighted Morajane’s statement, which he made during the signing of an MoU on Wednesday.
The CCMA director said CMAC should have an enforcement mechanism of its judgments and shorter turnaround time for resolving disputes. As it stands, CMAC awards are not final. In fact, if parties at CMAC disagree or an award is not honoured, CMAC issues a certificate of unresolved dispute, then the matter is referred to the Industrial Court. In most cases, some labour dispute cases die after CMAC’s award, more especially those of low income earners because they can not afford the legal fees associated with taking the matter to the Industrial Court.
Mkhonza said he was intrigued to learn how the CCMA achieved such credibility and enforced its enforcement mechanisms. He added that as it stood in the country, some employers and certain individuals were not honouring CMAC awards, which meant low income earners were denied justice.
The SG said even the administrative arm of government needed to take responsibility as well.
“Most of the employers who violate labour laws and workers’ rights are not here today, mostly those in the textile industry,” he said.
He said it was known to them as workers that the reason there was so much violation of workers’ rights in the sector was because government somehow allowed them to do so. He said if government was not doing anything to address the issues in that industry and making CMAC awards stand as court judgments in order to accommodate the low income earners, who could not afford lawyers to represent them in the Industrial Court, that was as good as allowing violation of labour laws and workers’ rights.
The SG highlighted that as an organ representing textile workers, he experienced many cases of labour laws violation in the textile industry.
Mkhonza said it was disappointing to note that there were employers or delegates from the textile industry, among others, who were not present.
Meanwhile, the Labour Commissioner in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Mthunzi
Shabangu, said there was a clear guidance that spoke on terminal benefits of employees. He said if there were people who were terminated unfairly, they were willing to step in as a ministry. He said they were expecting all employers to abide by the labour laws and their doors were open to ensure that workers’ rights were not violated.
Accessible
Meanwhile, Morajane said if CMAC services were not accessible to people living in rural areas, that was an offence to social justice. He said it was pointless to have a body that was fully financed by government, which was not serving the people who needed it. He highlighted that CMAC, according to the Industrial Relations Act of 2000, was a parastatal that was mandated to provide accessible, speedy, fair and equitable dispute management and resolution services with the aim of promoting harmony in labour relations. He said: “If CMAC cannot provide the services it is mandated to, it might as well close shop.” He noted that there were calls that the world was heading towards the Fourth Industrial Resolution (4thIR). Morajane said the 4thIR was a far-fetched conversation for Eswatini and South Africa if there were people who did not have access to electricity, data and smartphones to begin with. He said they should be focusing on getting these basics before the talks about 4thIR could make the rounds.