BUHLENI: King Mswati has urged senior citizens to teach young people to embrace the kuhlehla traditional custom.
Kuhlehla is an act of demonstrating loyalty by working for traditional authorities including the King in his capacity as Ingwenyama without expecting any payment.
Speaking at eBuhleni when dispersing his regiments last week, Mswati urged members of the regiments to teach young people to embrace the culture of working for free.
“Young people must be taught kuhlehla(working for free)”, said the King.
Workers in eSwatini work a maximum of eight(8) hours per day excluding overtime but some receive as little as $100.00(R1,500.) per month as per Government's low paying Gazettes that embrace kuhlehla.
Reached for comments, Wander Mkhonza, the Secretary General of the Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland(ATUSWA) said some of the cultural practices must be stopped adding that kuhlehla promotes manipulation and forced labour.
”While we appreciate that as Swazis we have our own way of life, we need to stop some of these traditional practices. Kuhlehla was meant to promote a culture of socialism, previous Kings and Chiefs were using the food produced through kuhlehla to take care of orphans and vulnerable. But now, that is no longer happening,” said the ATUSWA Secretary General.
King Mswati