By Musa Mdluli

BIG-BEND:Crooks Plantations Limited has fired Sanele Sihlongonyane, the Branch Chairperson of the Swaziland Agricultural Plantations 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 Plantations agreed to improve working conditions for the employees.

Reached for comments on Tuesday evening,the Crooks Plantations SAPWU Branch Chairperson confirmed the dismissal, after over fourteen(14) years of service.

“It’s true, I have been dismissed”, he said.

Crooks Plantations Limited Estate Manager Lucky Ngwenya declined to comment about the dismissal of thee SAPWU Branch Chairperson.

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 that resulted to the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement(MoA) after the employer” agreed to address the workers demands.

“We are preparing a mass solidarity action as unions, in defense of 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 workers,” said the ATUSWA Secretary General.