Times Of Swaziland: KING’S EFFORT DRAGGED IN DIRT

KING’S EFFORT DRAGGED IN DIRT
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The Editor on 14/05/2019 21:59:00


Sir,
It is agonising and painful to see the great efforts of our beloved King being
used as a prospect to demolish and undermine the intelligently acquired
liberation of the nation by Asians and Chinese employers, among others,
particularly in Mbabane and Manzini.
In the absence of proper government inspection of these mushrooming businesses,
the efforts of the King are used in the re-establishment of slavery of Eswatini
people by these foreign employers.
Our beloved relatives are suffering a great deal in the hands of church
ministries, clothing and grocery shops owners that are all over town.
This is especially evident in Mbabane and Manzini where our beloved brothers and
sisters are taken advantage of by their arrogant bosses.
Their employment assurance is if the employers have hold of their national ID
cards which I doubt is lawful. No contracts signed, no other document at all
apart from them handing over their ID cards to these foreign bosses.
If they have pressing needs that require their ID cards, they are completely
shut out of enjoying such services.
To one’s amusement, some have been fired on the spot for asking for their ID
cards. Some have been asked not to go to hospital if they want their jobs.
No wonder in one popular clothing shop in Mbabane; for over five years now there
has been a paper posted on the window advertising employment of ladies aged
between 18 and 22 years old.
One may ask what happened to those hired five years ago when the paper was first
placed on the window.
Break
At the shops they are made to work as long as 10 hours a day with only a
15-minute break behind the counters for lunch. If they are given off days a
month it is only one day for the whole duration of the month.
When watching from afar one may think that they earn a lot yet they each work
300 hours a month for only E800, which when you do the math is E2.65 per hour
(that is for lowest paid individuals at this particular shop).
What should they do? They are not well educated on their personal rights, they
do not have proper employment documents that may help them even if they were to
take their employers to court.
They need the money and are made slaves of the new generation. If only
government could look into these mushrooming businesses as well as the so called
‘church ministries’ and make sure that they don’t infringe on people’s
rights in the workplaces.
Comfort
Voice for the weak