Times Of Swaziland: NAPSAWU WANTS MEMBERS TO REMAIN AT HOME

NAPSAWU WANTS MEMBERS TO REMAIN AT HOME
================================================================================
Sibusiso Zwane on 25/03/2020 09:08:00


MANZINI - In what could be termed as defiance, NAPSAWU vows to invoke Section 18
(2) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act No. 9 of 2001.
The union said it would do this by removing its members from work because their
lives were at risk. This was said by the National Public Service and Allied
Workers Union (NAPSAWU) Secretary General, Thulani Hlatshwako, following the
Prime Minister (PM) Ambrose Dlamini’s statement that civil servants were
expected to continue working. The PM said the Ministry of Public Service had
already embarked on ensuring that necessary precautions were taken, such as
avoiding overcrowding of offices and provision of hand sanitisers. The secretary
general said this meant that government was putting civil servants’ lives at
risk because they did not have personal protective equipment (PPE). “On that
note, we will invoke the Act and remove our members from the risk of contracting
the virus,” the secretary general said.
Remove
Section 18 (2) of the Act says; ‘An employee shall have a right to remove
himself or herself from danger when such a worker has reasonable justification
to believe there is imminent and serious risk to his/her safety and health’.
It is worth noting that before the PM’s statement, NAPSAWU had called upon
government to put all non-essential workers in both public and private sector on
precautionary leave. On top of that, government, as the largest employer in the
country, had been advised to allow civil servants, who are essential service
providers to practise self-isolation if they felt unwell. The call is that the
workers should be allowed to self-isolate themselves without being forced to
fill in annual leave forms. NAPSAWU made this call to government in light of the
spread of the coronavirus in the world, including Eswatini and it was contained
in a statement that was issued by the secretary general early yesterday.
Declaration
The secretary general said as a union, they applauded the declaration of the
national emergency by government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said
this was because COVID-19 was a serious threat to mankind that had not been seen
in recent times. “The spread of the virus is unprecedented and needs an
unprecedented response,” Hlatshwako said.
In fact, he said government should be aware of Section 9 of the Occupational
Safety and Health Act of 2001. He said the onus to demonstrate that a workplace
was safe, was squarely placed on the employer by the section of the  Act. In
that note, the secretary general said the issue of self-isolation should be
encouraged and should not be seen to be costly to the workers. On that regard,
he said it was irresponsible of the Ministry of Public Service to be using
General Order A801 to persuade workers to seek medical advice. He said the usage
of annual leave for purposes of self-isolation demonstrated an insensitive
employer who did not comprehend the issues at play during self-isolation.
“Self-isolation cannot be related to annual leave,” he said.
Furthermore, he said the Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Public
Service, Sipho Tsabedze, should also be aware that as this was the end of year
for government, almost all civil servants were expected to have exhausted their
leave days. “This subsequently means civil servants have no annual leave days
for self-isolation as is necessary after suspected exposure,” the secretary
general said. On that note, Hlatshwako said as a union, they expected government
to undertake proper assessment of the work environment and embark on a proper
risk assessment by trained personnel.
Protective
Furthermore, he said government should prescribe situation specific protective
gear. He said it should also provide the necessary sanitary products prescribed
by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to combat the spread of the virus in the
workplace. “Government should also place all unnecessary and non-essential
workers on precautionary leave, not annual leave, until the situation is
stabilised or come with alternative methods of service delivery without placing
the lives of the nation at risk,” the secretary general said in the statement.
On another note, he specified that the union had suspended its activities whose
attendance would exceed 50 people as such would endanger the lives of members.
He said this included the branch elections in Mbabane, Manzini and Siteki. On
top of that, he encouraged their members to continue protecting themselves by
observing the precautions through washing of hands regularly, maintaining social
distancing of about a metre and avoiding touching their faces.