FRIDAY, 5.00PM
SWAZILAND’S government has ‘suspended” the country’s Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU), using the pretext that it failed to submit its financial returns on time, officials said today (Friday).
The government of King Mswati II has been in dispute with the unions all year, over union demands for a democratic society. A month-long national strike was called off in February on the understanding that the King was willing to negotiate with the unions.
On Friday, Enterprise and Employment Minister Absalom Dlamini said the labour federation and its 17 affiliated unions — which represent 83,000 workers — had been suspended because they submitted their annual financial statements after the April 30 deadline.
SFTU assistant secretary general Jabulani Nxumalo said the decision effectively banned the unions, at least temporarily. The SFTU has retaliated by boycotting the labour and constitutional negotiations with the government, Nxumalo said.