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PPA DISOWNS WANDILE DLUDLU’S MAY DAY REMARKS

05/05/2024 11:23:00 Ntombi Mhlongo

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MBABANE – In a sudden twist, the Political Parties Assembly (PPA) has disassociated itself from a message delivered by PUDEMO Deputy President Wandile Dludlu during the Workers’ Day celebration held on Wednesday.

When making his address at the event, Dludlu used language that was viewed as degrading to the Prime Minister (PM), Russell Mmiso Dlamini and the authorities of the country.
He was speaking on behalf of the PPA, which is an umbrella organisation for all political parties in the country. It is made up of different political parties, including the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), Ngwane National Liberation Congress (NNLC), Economic Freedom Fighters Eswatini (EFFSWA), Sive Siyinqaba and Inhlava Political Party.
Following the remarks by Dludlu, the PPA executive issued a press statement yesterday, whereby it distanced itself from them. The statement read: “The PPA wishes to place it on record that the speech that was delivered on its behalf was not approved by the executive committee, and accordingly, it does not reflect nor represent the views of the assembly. We disassociate ourselves from it as it represents the individual views of the speaker.”

Clarification

Also, the PPA executive said it had resolved to share a written speech for the public. “This has been a lesson learnt and we shall do everything to avoid such. This clarification has nothing to do with Workers’ Day event, that is for TUCOSWA as we were their guest,” it was mentioned in the statement. This publication engaged the PPA executive on the statement and its Chief Whip, Vusi Nxumalo first confirmed that it was authentic and that it came about after they had conducted a post-mortem of the remarks made by Dludlu. “We discovered that yes, he was assigned to represent the PPA but the statement that he read was not the one that we had planned was meant to be presented at the event. His remarks are not what we wanted to raise before workers of the country,” Nxumalo said. Elaborating, Nxumalo said: “What we want the public to know, is that he was assigned but the statement that had been prepared was not shared with him. As PPA we then felt like we needed to correct what was said.” When asked if the executive had already engaged Dludlu on the issue, he responded to the affirmative.

Worker-controlled

In the statement which the PPA executive claimed was the one that had to be presented at the event, the organisation said that the day was the biggest and highest representative of Parliament and of the workers of the country had convened under the worker-controlled union-TUCOSWA.“Workers have gathered here to take stock of the difficult journey they have travelled, reflect on the struggles they have waged, the challenges they are confronted with daily, and to agree on the programme of action on how they are going to free themselves from the chains of exploitation and the evils of capitalism,” reads part of the supposed official statement.

The statement mentioned that the PPA had always argued that employed workers did not constitute a class in their own right, hence an effort has been made to organise labour in the form of trade unions and bargaining arrangements. “Today’s May Day takes place when the scourge of gender-based violence and femicide has reached pandemic levels. Women and children are not safe in the workplace, in the streets or/and at home. TUCOSWA together with the progressive forces must be at the forefront of reversing this scourge.

Unrelentingly

“We equally urge your federation to unrelentingly continue to fight for the across the board implementation of the minimum wage for all employed workers, including equal pay for equal work,” the statement mentioned. Also, the PPA mentioned in the statement that never in the history has the world witnessed a genocide taking place and broadcast live on television screens like what was being witnessed in Gaza. The statement said the PPA was calling upon TUCOSWA to join it and the Multi-Stakeholder Forum (MSF) in partnering with all peace-loving people of the world, in calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo said government could not comment on the PPA disassociating itself from Dludlu’s statement. Nxumalo said government or the PM was invited by TUCOSWA to the May Day celebration and not PUDEMO, its deputy president or the PPA. “Therefore, let TUCOSWA make the relevant comments regarding the seditious and treasonous assertions by their guests during the May Day celebrations at the Prince of Wales,” he said.

Unmitigated

Also, the government spokesperson said TUCOSWA should be kindly warned that if they continued to ‘sugar-coat’ their respective reprimand for the unmitigated insults hurled at the leadership of the country, they would have to fall on their own sword and take full responsibility on behalf of their guests and members.“TUCOSWA leadership is composed of bona fide emaSwati, they know pretty well what to do when ‘lotelusile setidle emabele ebantfu’,” said Nxumalo. Worth noting, is that following the incident where the PM was not granted a platform to address the workers, Nxumalo remarked on Eswatini TV’s Kusile Breakfast Show saying the event was hijacked by certain political parties.

The government spokesperson said the atmosphere between the executive members of TUCOSWA and the government officials were cordial, until the event was hijacked by certain formations, that started speaking about certain political matters, which were not relevant to the bread-and-butter issues that affected workers. Nxumlao said political formations tampered with the public address system when Minister for Labour and Social Security Phila Buthelezi was still speaking with some singing struggle songs, which led to the PM being advised to leave to avoid the situation getting out of control.

Affecting

Nxumalo said workers had shown excitement to have the PM to go to them on their special day and address them on issues affecting them. The spokesperson said the PM declared upon assuming his position that he was going to adopt an open-door policy and that this was the reason why he took the decision to honour the invitation by TUCOSWA because he wanted to demonstrate consistency in his promise. Meanwhile, TUCOSWA Secretary General Mduduzi Gina said as TUCOSWA they have resolved that they will meet the PPA to ascertain how they ended up making a presentation in the manner that they did.

“We will ask them if this is their character and also ask why they did what they did, especially since we had engaged them and explained to them the character of the event and the dignitaries who we had invited. Meeting them prior was part of the consultations that we have engaged in with workers to ascertain the direction they want to take. consultations
“We resolved that we want to carry out extensive consultations from factory to factory to check with workers how they feel about the whole scheme of relationships we have with civil society and all other organisations,” said Gina. Regarding the fact that the PPA has now distanced itself from Dludlu’s remarks, he said they will seek answers during the meeting they are planning to hold. He said TUCOSWA was one organisation which did not approve of any language that seemed to undermine any person.

Dialogue

“As a principle, we are an organisation that is involved in social dialogue and collective bargaining, both which are founded on the respect of the other party. If it is true that what their representative presented was not the right statement, someone should have gone to grab the microphone. The leadership of the PPA was in attendance, they should have done something. What worries us is that we had met and engaged, they undertook that they will carry themselves properly,” Gina said.