TUCOSWA, WINNIE IN BUTIMBA ‘ROUND 2’

MBABANE – The Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) is not backing down on its statement on butimba, a hunting expedition commissioned by royalty.

The statement was made by TUCOSWA President Quinton Dlamini at the recent International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
The federation has since informed Winnie Magagula, Minister of Labour and Social Security, in writing, that she might have referred the butimba (royal hunting) issue to higher authorities to intimidate the federation.
In the letter addressed to the minister, TUCOSWA said the referral of the matter to higher authorities might backfire as the country could be embarrassed before the international community.

Trouble started after Quinton told hundreds of international delegates in Geneva last month that Swazi workers were stopped by police from exercising their right to march or demonstrate in Siteki because royalty was on a hunting expedition.
This shocked the international labour community.

In a statement sent to the Times SUNDAY to back up the letter written to the minister, Vincent Ncongwane, the Secretary General of TUCOSWA said neither its president nor the federation would be intimidated by the minister by referring the matter to higher authorities.

Ncongwane wondered why the police were never cautioned about contents of the letter they wrote to stop the federation from marching in Siteki because royalty was on a hunting expedition in the Lubombo region at that time.
TUCOSWA believes butimba is a national event and its abuse should have been avoided.
Ncongwane said the minister was trying to intimidate them by referring the matter to higher authorities.

“It is interesting that the national commiissioner of police and the other ministries authorities never saw anything wrong about such abuse,” he said.
“Butimba is a national event and its abuse should have been cautioned, the minute the police and the town council brought it up. Regrettably, the ministries, the town council and the national commissioner saw it as an appropriate response to our request for the permission to march,” he said.

Ncongwane also warned Mashumi Shongwe, President of Federation of Swaziland Trade Unions, against using the matter to score political points.

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