The silence and systematic sabotage by the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland(TUCOSWA)when other trade unionists try to fight the regime resulted to Mswati’s Government targeting Mbongwa Dlamini,the President of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers(SNAT) and Sticks Nkambule of the public transport.
For over five(5)years, TUCOSWA has been struggling to organise a national shutdown even when it was clear that the political ground was fertile.
It seems like the regime has a silent strategy or behind the scenes understanding to ensure that this federation of trade unions existed only on paper.
I have noticed that sometimes Secretary General Mduduzi Gina and his previous Executive would fool the Nation by pretending to be organizing a protest,Government would then go to court to stop the protest and that would be the end.
In this country freedom fighters and genuine trade union leaders are slowly becoming scarce, we have leaders who want to fight without getting their hands dirty or upsetting the regime.
Gina is part of the Eswatini National Provident Fund(ENPF) Board of Directors,he is working closely with Prince Lonkhonkhela.
The Provident Fund is evicting Madonsa residents and this means Gina as a Board member is complicit in the plight of widows and orphans at Madonsa in the outskirts of Manzini.
Why should teachers pay subscriptions to TUCOSWA, an organization that is failing to organize a ‘single’ protest in defense of Mbongwa Dlamini who is the President of it’s affiliate?
So teachers must pay thousands to TUCOSWA as subscriptions,fight for their rights in isolation when there’s a federation that should be addressing some of the issues that landed Mbongwa in trouble?.
It was TUCOSWA who was supposed to tell workers to stay at home for their safety amid the threats by the Solidarity Forces Commander, but Mbongwa had to make that announcement because of the leadership vacuum within the trade unions.
Subsequently,Mbongwa was persecuted and we are not witnessing any vigorous efforts to defend the SNAT President who is under attack.
Mbongwa and Sticks Nkambule, the Secretary General of the Swaziland Transport, Communication and Allied Workers Union(SWATCAWU) are going through what almost all of us went through, which is being dumped by political activists, colleagues and other power hungry fellows.
Surprisingly, these power hungry individuals are the first ones to establish organizations and or political parties and position themselves for political power upon realizing that the regime might fall any-time.
These fellows who are very careful not to get their hands dirty by fighting the regime are very quick to identify people who can’t lead, they want others to fight and then position themselves to take over political power.
Mbongwa Dlamini was brave enough to tell teachers to stay at home for their safety, that announcement was supposed to be made by TUCOSWA in support of the efforts to liberate this country.
But alas, the organization was silent and Mswati’s regime later realized that Mbongwa was the problem, it started targeting him.
In a dictatorship State, trade union leaders hardly finish their term of office without getting arrested for fighting for the rights of workers,but here,we have trade union leaders who enjoy subscriptions from workers while capitalists are underpaying workers.
Sometimes we criticize Mashumi Shongwe’s Swaziland Economic Improvement Workers Union(SEIWU), what is the difference between SEIWU and TUCOSWA?
How can a faceless underground forces Commander and public transport workers organize endless national shutdowns when we have a federation?
TUCOSWA might defend this with all sorts of justifications but the truth is; this organization is doing nothing to improve the welfare of workers, it\'s useless.
The capitalists are comfortable in the country, some pay workers a mere one thousand, two hundred Rands (R1,200.00).
Trade unions then come-in and ‘grab’ subscriptions from that money promising to help the desperate workers fight for their rights.
TUCOSWA.