‡‡†–‘”‡˜‹‡™Ž‡‰‹•Žƒ–‹‘–‘ƒ……‘‘†ƒ–‡‡™†‡˜‡Ž‘’‡–ǯ

EZULWINI – Labour Commissioner Mthunzi Shabangu says there is a need to review some labour legislation in the country, following the developments that were brought by COVID-19 in the workplace.

This observation was made by Shabangu during the 2023 Labour Seminar, which was held yesterday under the theme; ‘Changes in the labour market post COVID-19’.

Shabangu said during the pandemic, there were laws that were enacted according to the Disaster Management Act that changed the manner in which people worked. The commissioner was leading a topic on Flexibility in Employment Contracts: Protecting Jobs, Enhancing Flexibility: Lessons for Eswatini Labour. He mentioned several methods that were affected at the time. These included working from home, shift work, rotational working, sector worker and layoffs.

He noted that over time, the laws were lifted but some companies continued with some of the new flexibilities that were brought about by the pandemic. He highlighted, however, that layoffs were supposed to be left in that period.

He said the new work flexibilities that were brought by the pandemic that some companies adopted even after the pandemic were not catered for in most of the labour legislation.

“The legislation do not recognise recent form of work flexibility that was created by COVID-19,” he said.

The commissioner said because of the absence of the new development in the legislation, there were a number of conversations and disagreements about certain measures that were introduced by employers as well as employees expectations. He noted issues of occupational health and safety in a set-up where a person was working from home.

Performance

He said there were issues of measuring overtime and monitoring performance that were raised.

Following the observations, Shabangu said it was time for stakeholders to look at issues of reviewing the legislation so that they addressed the new flexible contracts. Adding, he hinted the need to recall the recently passed Employment Bill in order to accommodate the new working styles.

He also responded to questions that were asked by the delegates on what measures government, particularly the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, had in place to ensure that people’s salaries were secured during a pandemic. He said the ministry was in the process of converting the

Eswatini National Provident Fund (ENPF) to a national pension scheme. He said the conversion of the scheme would ensure that people had social security.

Meanwhile, CCMA Executive Director Cameron Morajane also cited that the COVID-19 pandemic made people comfortable to be paid while sitting at home. He mentioned that when the pandemic hit, governments issued a list of essential workers. He stated that some of those who were not on the list ended up staying at home yet their employers expected them to be at work, in particular domestic workers.

He added that some workers who were working from home wanted to be paid even extra allowances such as travelling allowances. He said these were the cases they were faced with at the CCMA, which somehow the legislation and employment contracts had not addressed.

He stressed the need to review the laws independently because some of those that applied during the pandemic were no longer in place, because the state of disaster was lifted. He said the first call would be to define essential service in the current context, not the COVID-19 context, then draw legislation that align with the new development not the Disaster Management Act.