Times Of Swaziland: OUTDATED POLICIES COST ESWATINI BILLIONS

OUTDATED POLICIES COST ESWATINI BILLIONS
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Sabelo Majola on 29/06/2023 14:51:00


MBABANE – Outdated policies that need reviewing are costing Eswatini billions
of Emalangeni.
Eswatini has committed to making itself eligible for Millennium Challenge
Corporation (MCC) funds so much that the Ministry of Economic Planning and
Development has a full-time person whose sole job is to help the country
Eswatini secure the country’s eligibility for MCC money. However, Eswatini’s
outdated laws are holding it back, as revealed by Armand Perry from the American
Bar Association (ABA), who was making submissions on behalf of the organisation
during a stakeholder submission session to the Employment Bill, 2023 in
Parliament yesterday. The ABA has implemented several projects in Eswatini over
the last few years, working with non-governmental organisations (NGOs), private
sector partners and government ministries. Their current project is a three year
USAID funded project called Women’s Economic Empowerment and Recovery (WEER),
which seeks to boost women’s participation in the economy.
Criteria
Perry submitted that for the country to be eligible for the MCC money, it should
meet a specific criteria, composed of 20 indicators across three broad
categories. They include ruling justly, investing in people and economic freedom
which include, among others, gender in the economy. Perry submitted that gender
in the economy was one of the indicators on which Eswatini scored poorly on. He
said the score came directly from an annual World Bank report called ‘Women,
Business, and the Law’ (WBL). The 2023 WBL report ranks 190 economies on
gender in the economy and Eswatini is at 180, right after Somalia. “That’s
not only a terrible score, but it doesn’t feel right. Eswatini’s score does
not comport with my lived experience, or yours, I imagine, nor does it
accurately reflect where Eswatini is in terms of women’s true participation in
the economy. And that’s because this score is not looking at workplace
employment figures or women in executive roles. But rather at one thing only:
policy,” he submitted. Perry highlighted that Eswatini’s outdated laws were
holding it back, casting a shadow on its standing on worldwide rankings such as
the WBL report, hindering its ability to go after opportunities like MCC grant
money. He said there were a thousand reasons to update the Employment Act of
1980.Through this initiative, Mozambique received E9.6 billion for water and
sanitation, roads and to develop agriculture. Malawi received E6.5 billion to
develop its power sector and those funds expired in 2018 and Malawi secured
another E6.5 billion to develop its roads for better transport freight service.
Secured
Lesotho secured E6.7 billion to develop its water supply and increase access to
health and Namibia secured E5.5 billion for education and economic development
in its rural northern region. “The Employment Act is 43 years old. I assume
the Employment Bill, if passed, will stick around for just as long. Eswatini
must seize the opportunity to create a more inclusive and equitable workplace,
while enhancing its international standing when it comes to policy
frameworks,” said Perry. He said that as the Employment Bill noted in its
preamble, Parliament had a constitutional obligation to act and Parliament shall
enact laws to provide for the right of persons to work under satisfactory, safe
and healthy conditions; ensure equal payment for equal work without
discrimination. He also added that it had the obligation to ensure that every
worker was accorded rest and reasonable working hours and periods of holidays
with pay as well as remuneration for public holidays; and protect employees from
victimisation and unfair dismissal or treatment.
Allows
“Passing the Employment Bill not only prioritises the well-being and dignity
of Eswatini’s workers, but allows Parliament to fulfil its constitutional
mandate. Looking at the international implications, “I want to highlight seven
gender-based considerations to bring this domestic legislation more in line with
international benchmarks,” he shared. One of the gender-based considerations
he highlighted included equal pay for work of equal value. Perry said Section14
in the Bill improved on the Act by defining equal pay to include
‘remuneration’, touching on the full scope of benefits, and by broadening
the standard to include not just equal work, but work of equal value. He said
this provision was far stronger than the previous provision in the Act and this
was a welcomed improvement.He also highlighted the Bill’s list of grounds on
which employers may not discriminate, and he suggested that the list of
protected attributes should also list sexual orientation as a ground on which an
employer may not discriminate.
This appears to be a drafting error, but a critical one. Regardless of one’s
views on this issue, “I think we can all agree that it should not be the basis
for an adverse employment decision. People should get jobs, or hold on to jobs,
based on their abilities and performance. “We do not want legislation that
allows employers to fire employees because of something that may lawfully engage
in away from the workplace while in their private life,” he said. “To that
submission, the Chairman of the Portfolio Committee on the Ministry of Labour
and Social Security, Lutfo Dlamini, wanted to know from Perry if, by sexual
orientation, he meant the LGBTIQ. Perry responded by stating that he was
cognisant that only transgender, in the context of LGBTIQ would be allowed.
Dlamini made it known to Perry that the Constitution did not recognise the
LGBTIQ group hence they could not be incorporated in the legislation.