swaziland times

BABANE – The Commission for Human Rights and Public Administration interviewed 17 teachers whose bus was reportedly pelted with tear gas canisters by police.

This contradicts recent government reports which stated that the occupants of the vehicle were not workers. The incident took place on October 20, 2021 in Nkoyoyo, where the affected teachers were reportedly travelling to Mbabane to participate in a proposed protest in the city. The interviews with the teachers followed a complaint lodged with the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT).

Worker

The government disputed the allegation and insisted that those on the bus were not workers, while the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) rejected the claim and stressed that they were workers. The incident was the subject of discussion at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) meeting in Geneva last month. Therefore, Labour and Social Security Minister Phila Buthelezi said the passengers on the bus were not workers. The minister reiterated this statement in an interview, saying that the passengers were political activists and people posing as workers.

Buthelezi said the issue was one of the matters referred to the Human Rights Commission for further investigation and that domestic mediation procedures had been carried out in the country with the assistance of the International Labour Organization. Following the Geneva minister’s comments, the government sought advice from the Human Rights Commission to ascertain its findings as it insisted that those riding the buses were not workers.

investigation

The Human Rights Commission’s deputy commissioner, Duduzile Nhlengetfwa, said the commission had interviewed 17 teachers involved in the bus accident. The deputy commissioner was interviewed and briefed on the status of all cases referred to the commission for investigation. She said: “The commission investigated a complaint reported by SNAT which stated that about 17 members were injured and affected in the incident. The commission investigated the complaint reported by SNAT and issued findings and recommendations which are the conclusion of the complaint.”

The commissioner also said that some mediation issues were still under investigation. It is understood that the Ministry of Labour and Social Security referred these issues to the commission around the first quarter of this year. Other issues referred to the commission include that of a bus conductor who was allegedly shot dead by police during a protest by transport workers. “The Ministry of Labour referred the matter to the committee around February or March in accordance with the ILO procedure for the country,” she said.

Committee

Nhlengetfwa said the commission had not yet completed its investigation into the matter due to severe staff shortages, but an investigator had been assigned to the complaint and preliminary investigations were ongoing. When asked about a specific timeline for the investigation to be concluded, Nhlengetfwa said it was difficult to say exactly when the complaints could be closed. She said it depended on the circumstances of each complaint and was difficult to say precisely given the number of complaints the commission was dealing with and the staff shortage.Regarding the matter referred to the Human Rights Commission, the Minister said that the Ministry had not received the Commission’s report. Therefore, he said, it was for this reason that he maintained the Government’s position that there were no workers on the buses as indicated in the voluntary mediation conducted last year.

reply

The voluntary mediation report is due in September 2023. After receiving this response, the Minister was informed that the Human Rights Commission had informed this publication that it had interviewed 17 teachers. Buthelezi was asked if he maintained that the passengers on the bus were not workers but political activists and members of the public, to which he replied: “We have not received or seen the official report of the Human Rights Commission on this matter, so we cannot comment further.”
On the other hand, SNAT Secretary General Lot Vilakati confirmed that they had lodged a complaint with the Commission.

He said that although they had lodged a complaint regarding the injuries of members, they were yet to receive a report stating the findings and recommendations. “It feels like a cosmetic move where our members got hurt and nobody was held accountable for this action,” Vilakati said. He was unhappy with the government’s slow handling of the matter as he believed the issue had to be resolved to avoid such incidents from happening again in the future.