HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION REVEALS: 17 TEACHERS IN TEARGASSED BUS

MBABANE – The Commission on Human Rights and Public Administration interviewed 17 teachers, who were reportedly on board the bus into which a tear gas canister was thrown by the police.

This is contrary to recent government reports that the people who were on board the bus were not workers. The incident happened at Nkoyoyo on October 20, 2021, and the affected teachers were reportedly heading to Mbabane for a proposed protest action in the city.  The interviews of the teachers followed a complaint, which was lodged by the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT).

Workers

Government has disputed this allegation and insisted that those on board the bus were not workers, while the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) has opposed this narration and emphasised that they were workers.The incident was the subject of discussion during the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conference in Geneva last month.As such, Minister of Labour and Social Security Phila Buthelezi submitted that the occupants of the bus were not workers.  The minister further repeated the statement in an interview where he said the passengers were political activists and members of the public, who posed as workers.

Buthelezi said this issue was among the matters which were referred to the Human Rights Commission for further investigation, through the assistance of the ILO, which held an in-country mediation process. Subsequent to the assertion by the minister in Geneva, the Human Rights Commission was sought for comment to establish what had been uncovered in their investigations as government maintained that those who were travelling in the bus were not workers.

Investigations

Human Rights Commission Deputy Commissioner Duduzile Nhlengetfwa, said the commission interviewed 17 teachers who were in that bus incident. The deputy commissioner was interviewed on the status of all the cases that were referred to the commission for investigations.  She said: “The commission investigated a complaint reported by SNAT of about 17 of its members who were injured and affected during the incident. The commission investigated the complaint reported by SNAT and issued its findings and recommendations, which was the conclusion of the complaint.”

The commissioner also said some issues of the reconciliation were still under investigation. It was gathered that the Ministry of Labour and Social Security referred the issues to the commission around the first quarter of this year. Other issues that were referred to the commission included that of the bus conductor, who was allegedly shot by police during a protest by transport workers. “The matter was referred to the commission by the Ministry of Labour around February or March, following the ILO process for the country,” she said.

Commission

Nhlengetfwa said the commission had not completed investigating the matter yet; as it was critically understaffed, but the complaint had been allocated an investigator and preliminary investigations were underway. When she was asked about the set timelines to conclude the investigation, Nhlengetfwa said it was difficult to state exactly when a complaint could be concluded. This, she said, depended on the circumstances of each complaint and also given the shortage of staff compared to the number of complaints which the commission was seized with, it is difficult to be precise.On the matters that were referred to the Human Rights Commission, the minister said there was no report received by the ministry from the commission. As such, he said it was for this reason that he was standing by government’s position, as captured in the voluntary conciliation that took place last year, that there were no workers in the bus.

Response

The Voluntary Conciliation Report was delivered in September 2023. Following this response, the minister was made aware that the Human Rights Commission had informed this publication that it had interviewed 17 teachers. Buthelezi was asked if he retained his position that the passengers in the bus were not workers but political activists and members of the public; and he said: “We have not yet received or seen a formal report from the HRC (Human Rights Commission) on that matter and thus, we cannot comment any further.”
On the other hand, SNAT Secretary General Lot Vilakati confirmed that they had lodged a complaint with the commission.

He said despite lodging the complaint regarding the injury of their members, they were yet to be furnished with a report stating the findings and recommendations. Vilakati said: “This feels like it was a window-dressing exercise, as our members were injured and nobody is taking responsibility for the act.” He bemoaned the speed which was being applied in dealing with the matter as his belief was that it needed to be addressed to avert such an occurrence in the future.

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