OUTDATED POLICIES COST ESWATINI BILLIONS

MBABANE – Outdated policies that need reviewing are costing Eswatini billions of Emalangeni.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 However, Eswatini’s outdated laws are holding it back, as revealed by Armand Perry from the American Bar Association (ABA), who was making submissions on behalf of the organisation during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 Perry highlighted that Eswatini’s outdated laws were holding it back, casting a shadow on its standing on worldwide rankings such as the WBL report, hindering its ability to go after opportunities like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.

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