Spill-over victims: Still no compensation after 10 years
CONDEMNED:
It has been a 10-year wait and still counting for former Tex Ray chemical spill-over victims, whose matter is still unresolved since the September 2014 incident.
MBABANE - The delay in delivering fair and speedy justice and the protection of foreign investors has been condemned as the weakest link in enforcing laws justly in Eswatini.
It has been a 10-year wait and still counting for former Tex Ray chemical spill-over victims, whose matter is still unresolved since the September 2014 incident.
Tex Ray is an apparel manufacturer which has branches within Matsapha. One of the survivors of the chemical spill-over, Thobile Gwebu (42), who was forced to stop working on medical grounds, is struggling to make ends meet. Gwebu is one of the over 800 textile workers who were seriously affected and fell ill after inhaling a poisonous gaseous chemical at Tex Ray Swaziland in 2014.
The incident hogged headlines in the media where over 300 textile workers were taken to various hospitals.
Ambulances, buses and cars lined up to pick up the affected workers and transport them to different hospitals.
A number of the textile workers were admitted at the Mbabane Government Hospital, the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial (RFM) Hospital, Hluthi as well as the Mankayane Government Hospital.
Poisoning
The incident of the poisoning saw scores of the textile company workers being treated and discharged when the never-beenseen-before drama unfolded at the premises of the factory.
Gwebu said the accident at Tex Ray forced her to carry the burden of taking care of a huge monthly responsibility of medical health bills without any salary.
She informed the Eswatini News that she barely has the E500 needed monthly for her health bill. Her daughter aged nine years also suffered from the same chemical fumes, as she was pregnant with her at the time. “Doctors told me her lungs were affected, hence she also needs medication to help her breathe easier,” said Gwebu.
She said at the time of the accident she was pregnant and had to spend about three months in the hospital. She allegedly never received any assistance for any of the hospital bills from the company where the incident happened.
She said in the three months spent at the government hospital, doctors for the sake of protecting life advised and decided to perform a caesarean birth.
Caesarean section, also known as C-section or caesarean delivery, is the surgical procedure by which one or more babies are delivered through an incision in the mother’s abdomen, often performed because vaginal delivery would put the baby or mother at risk.
Advised
Gwebu said she was at about 36 months in her pregnancy at the time doctors advised the caesarean delivery for her child.
“I was informed my only option was caesarean delivery or loss of life,” she said.
Gwebu informed the Eswatini News that life has never been the same due to the chest pains and consistent coughing. She said the pains were even worse when she failed to get the dose of the prescribed medication.
Meanwhile, Gwebu said in all the challenges they faced after the incident. they instructed a Manzini-based law firm to pursue the matter on their behalf.
“Doctors told me her lungs were affected, hence she also needs medication to help her breathe easier.”