Times Of Swaziland: TUCOSWA SLAMS  COMMERCE MINISTER

TUCOSWA SLAMS  COMMERCE MINISTER
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BY SIKELELA MAMBA on 31/10/2014 09:13:00


MBABANE – Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) Secretary General
Vincent Ncongwane said it was nice to be a minister as that appeared to be a
licence to say anything that takes your fancy no matter how far it sails from
the truth.
Ncongwane said he was very hurt to learn that Minister of Commerce, Industry and
Trade Gideon Dlamini said the retrenched Tex Ray textile firm workers should
have shed tears at the doorstep of their trade union offices.
He said the minister’s comments are like someone who either is not aware of
the ILO Report dated March 26, 2014 which recommended to government how to deal
with the issues of the benchmarks.
He cited that the report, in its last page, states the following recommendation;
“Government should give serious consideration, bearing in mind certain
priority matters, to the following recommendations:
1) To follow a fast tracked process to facilitate the adoption of amendments to
the legislation, if necessary, for the registration of the worker and employer
federations by end of April 2014 and to see to their immediate registration
immediately thereafter and in time for the International Labour Conference in
June 2014; and
2) To consult with the social partners and the ILO Pretoria office to draw up a
timetable by the end of April 2014 for the finalisation of all other outstanding
matters.
Inconceivable
“It is inconceivable how anyone who read these recommendations can then
comment as the minister is alleged to have done, when he remarkably fails to
explain how government failed to do the things that are called for here all
these months right up until the country was removed from the AGOA eligibility on
the 27th June 2014,” said Ncongwane. He said as TUCOSWA, they urged government
to do all it can now to meet the benchmarks and less untruths being told the
public. Ncongwane highlighted that they would not tire to correct the untrue
impressions that those in leadership give on this matter and about TUCOSWA. He
said the less said about the government spokesperson on this matter, the better.
“As the proposed amendments are being dealt with by Parliament, we are
appreciative of that, even as we monitor that they must be ILO compliant and
further request that government also puts effort in dealing with the other
benchmarks. We hope that with this, we will not have another minister or the
government spokesperson misleading the public,” said Ncongwane.