BIG-BEND:Crooks Plantation has fired Sanele Sihlongonyane, the Branch Chairperson of the Swaziland Agricultural Plantation Workers Union(SAPWU) merely for demanding a salary increment and better working conditions for workers.
The fired Branch Chairperson recently took the company to the Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration Commission(CMAC) amid a strike action, in demand for better working conditions and, he successfully signed a Memorandum of Agreement(MoA) with the company where Crooks Plantation agreed to improve working conditions for the employees.
Reached for comments on Tuesday evening, the Crooks Plantation SAPWU Branch Chairperson confirmed the dismissal, after over fourteen(14) years of service.
“It’s true, I have been dismissed”, he said.
Crooks Plantation Manager Lucky Ngwenya declined to comment about the dismissal.
But Wander Mkhonza, the Secretary General of the Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland(ATUSWA) condemned the dismissal of the SAPWU Chairperson adding that, Sihlongonyane “has been dismissed for successfully leading workers in a strike action last year, that resulted to the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement(MoA) after the employer” agreed to address the workers demands.
“We are preparing a mass solidarity action as unions to defend Sanele Sihlongonyane and, to urge the workers to engage in a protest action in demand for his reinstatement because, if we can allow this to happen to the SAPWU Branch Chairperson, other employers will dismiss union leaders with impunity. What you need to understand is that union leaders are protected by the Industrial Relations Act when representing the workers,” said the ATUSWA Secretary General.
Dismissed Crooks Plantation SAPWU Branch Chairperson Sanele Sihlongonyane.