EPTC STRIKE LOOMING

MBABANE – Do tough times lie ahead for the Eswatini Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (EPTC) and its customers?

This is a question that some people may ask themselves following a call for a strike by about 100 EPTC employees, who were gathered at Salesian High School yesterday. The bone of contention was the existence of two National Executive Councils (NECs) of the same union, the Swaziland Communications and Allied Workers Union (SWAWU), representing the same workers.

According to the EPTC website, Swazi Post alone has 33 major outlets and 69 agencies nationally. Should the proposed strike go on, most of these centres, if not all, stand to be affected.

Hinted

The members of the union hinted that they would fight the situation they were faced with both physically and spiritually, as all struggles were formulated in the latter. The meeting was chaired by Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) President Quinton Dlamini, whose secretary was the federation’s Second Deputy Secretary General Muzi Mhlanga.

Reports are to the effect that the two NECs were elected in two different conferences, one of which was held around the beginning of August while the other was held a few days later. The president of the first NEC is Innocent Ngcobo, while for the second one is Oscar Vilakati. The aggrieved employees accused the Vilakati-led NEC of being elected illegally and being allegedly in bed with management. They based this on that they elected what to them was the legitimate NEC (led by Ngcobo) and this was communicated to management after the elections. They reached the conclusion that management gave recognition to the Vilakati-led NEC and not theirs.

Also not spared by the employees was the SWAWU interim committee, which held office for about two years. The employees raised concern on a E25 000 transaction which they alleged was paid to purchase a cow from one of the members. They alleged that the committee further did not forward their subscriptions to TUCOSWA since it took office. They called for an auditing of the union’s books so to establish how their contributions were used.

Voicing out their concern about the relationship between the Vilakati-led NEC and EPTC management, they alleged that the latter seemed to easily give audience to the former. They stated that their leadership together with TUCOSWA should lead them as they march to the EPTC headquarters to have the matter addressed.

“Let us all go to the sixth floor and demand answers on why management is allowing these people to access our funds,” one speaker submitted.
During the meeting, some of the union members submitted that they were ready to take the matter of the two NECs to court. Some went to the extent of pledging to contribute from their own pockets that a lawyer be engaged to take the matter up in court. Others stated that they were ready to even report the issue of the union’s financials to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

They alleged that they had in the past invited the Vilakati-led NEC to call a mass meeting for EPTC employees but to date that had not happened. They said the aim of the meeting was for EPTC employees to state which NEC they recognised as their true leadership. They admitted that both NECs had supporters but said the legitimate one would be the one recognised by most workers.

Intervention

The employees yesterday sought the intervention of their mother body TUCOSWA, which promised to assist them. Mhlanga, in his summary, said they would write to the EPTC management and inform them about the situation, then invite them to intervene. If management failed to solve the matter, according to Mhlanga, they would then engage government, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
Addressing the matter of the alleged E25 000 cow, Mhlanga said it might lead to the arrest of certain people as there was no way of justifying it.

Further allegations regarding the E25 000 will not be repeated, as none of the parties involved in the matter have been arrested or charged for any wrongdoing.
TUCOSWA President Dlamini said the law would solve the situation of having two NECs. He shared that the federation wrote to EPTC management informing them about the Ngcobo-led NEC, having been elected into office. He declined to reveal all that TUCOSWA would do to solve the situation.

“Ngcobo’s executive will work but we cannot say what it will do because it may end up reaching the wrong ears,” Dlamini said.
He promised that as TUCOSWA, they would not abandon the employees but would do all they could to assist them. He said the federation would update members in due course about what it had done.
The interim committee members accused of being responsible for the E25 000 transaction, when reached for comment, declined to get into the merits of the matter. The name of the member is known to this publication but will not be mentioned at the moment. The member stated that such matters were addressed by the union secretary, as the transaction in question was made while he was in office. He said had it been his money, he would have explained his side of the story.

Secretary General of the Vilakati-led NEC, Sandile Dlamini, declined to comment on the matter of the existence of two NECs at the organisation but said he would have to consult first. Sandile declined to answer any other questions put to him as he said he was in no position to comment without first consulting.
EPTC Corporate Communications Manager Nqobile Magagula asked to be sent a questionnaire on the matter which she said would be responded to today.

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