TAKE SAPPI ISSUE TO SADC - MPS

LOBAMBA – For Members of Parliament (MPs), the issue of the retrenched SAPPI Usutu workers should be taken to international courts.

This was said by MPs during the adoption of the Report of the Select Committee on the 2010 SAPPI Retrenches’ Petition at the House of Assembly yesterday.

Worth noting was that the gallery was filled to the brim as the affected former employers came in numbers to listen to the MPs’ debate.
For the MPs, if Parliament fails to assist the affected former employees, then the matter should be taken to organisations such the Human Rights Court, Southern African Development Community (SADC) or the United Nations (UN).

Tied

This follows the committee’s findings that Parliament’s hands were tied on the matter because it went as far as the Supreme Court. However, during a debate for the adoption yesterday, MPs made it known that there were many other avenues or platforms that could be consulted so that justice could prevail for the retrenched workers.

First to make the suggestion was Ndzingeni MP Lutfo Dlamini, who declared that he had a close relative who was among the affected former workers.
Dlamini mentioned that SAPPI was an international company, which had branches all over the world, and that meant that it would be easy to trace its owners. “Firstly, since SAPPI was a company in Eswatini and was later sold to other parties, it is important to investigate how the handover was done and who was involved. Then, since it is said that the owners of SAPPI are now in South Africa, it means that we can seek the help of SADC to locate them. We cannot fail to locate the directors when they are in South Africa.

“If a person escapes to South Africa, it is always a norm that we make use of diplomatic ties through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to look for that person. Let us do the same with the SAPPI directors,” said Dlamini.
He mentioned that SAPPI employed over 12 000 people all over the world and spent a lot of money in corporate social responsibility, which to him meant that it could afford to pay the 491 employees who were retrenched.

“SAPPI is also listed. It pays so many Dollars for its CSI. So we need to engage the directors to treat this issue of the locals as part of its CSI,” he said.
He implored the probe team to go to South Africa, search until they found the offices of the SAPPI directors so that they could shed light on why the money belonging to the locals was not released.

Also suggesting the use of international organisations was Ngwempisi MP, Mthandeni Dube, who first mentioned how unfortunate it was that foreign investors came to invest in the Kingdom of Eswatini and then left emaSwati worse off.
“It is our chance to prove to all and sundry that Parliament has the power. There are international courts that can help us. There is also SADC, let us go and report the matter there,” he said.

On another note, Lugongolweni MP, Enos Magongo said he was adamant that the issue of the unpaid former employees had contributed immensely to the country’s ailing economy.
Magongo said for the employees to get only E40 million from E400 million was proof that they became worse off after working for SAPPI.
The MPs punched holes in the manner in which government handled the whole issue, especially regarding the collective agreement (CA) that was signed when SAPPI invested in the country.It is contained in the report that the two parties signed the CA in 1995 but that it expired.

“This is unfortunate because it is the duty of government to ensure that when a foreign investor comes to the country, we must be sure that we have all structures in place that will avoid fly by night businesses that will leave workers with nothing,” he said.
In the end, the MPs agreed in unison that the probe team should be given more time to do more investigations into the matter.

“While the probe team worked very hard, I see that there is something missing. So, I support the suggestion that they be given more time to dig deeper. As you all know, at Mhlambanyatsi there are houses being sold willy-nilly which makes one wonder if there are high profile locals who also benefitted when the retrenched workers were robbed their benefits,” said Siphocosini MP, Mduduzi Matsebula.
The MPs stated that the probe team was not selected just to come back with a report but to eventually make recommendations that would assist the former workers get what belonged to them.

Halted

As a result, the adoption of the report was halted and the probe team, led by Motshane MP Robert Magongo was given three more months to go and continue investigating how the former workers were not given their benefits.
Worth noting was that other MPs submitted that the matter should be reported to His Majesty King Mswati III through the custom known as ‘kwembula ingubo’.

As part of its findings, the probe team observed that apart from being defrauded of their terminal benefits, the retrenched workers were also maliciously deprived of their four months pension contribution and outstanding housing loan balances despite that such loans had been insured for such eventuality.
According to the committee, what happened at SAPPI was one of the worst white collar crimes to have ever happened in the country.

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