Between collaboration and conflict: patterns of interaction between labour and pro-democracy politics in post-colonial Eswatini, 1973–2014

ABSTRACT

Nearly five decades after the end of multi-party democracy, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) is experiencing growing support for re-democratisation. This article explores the patterns of interaction between the labour movement and pro-democracy political forces in post-colonial Eswatini. The relationship between labour and pro-democracy forces has gone through both collaboration and conflict, and should be analysed in terms of multiple context-specific factors. Many workers realised that their welfare would not improve under the authoritarian rule of the traditional monarchy. However, between 1973 and 2014, there is no evidence of unified workers’ support for a pro-democracy agenda. Workers regularly took to the street to manifest their discontent with appalling living and working conditions, and pro-democracy forces both within and outside the labour movement, were able to rise to the occasion to rally support for multi-party democracy. Despite this, many workers favoured trade unions that focused primarily on economic, rather than political matters.

KEYWORDS:

• Eswatini
• labour
• politics
• democracy
• post-colonial history

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 The proclamation is available online at https://www.eisa.org/pdf/swa1973proclamation.pdf. Accessed July 23, 2021.

2 For an analysis of how labour in the formal economy has interacted historically with the traditional system of chieftaincy and customary land tenure rooted in the rural areas, see Laterza (2015, 2016).

3 Michael Farlie was a British Secretary for Social and Political Affairs.

4 Sibaya is a traditional people’s parliament where Swati people convene to discuss matters of national importance upon being summoned by the King.

5 In the 1990s, SNAT wanted to affiliate with the SFTU but was discouraged by the SFTU’s demand of 25% of the union’s subscription fees, which the union felt was too high.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sifiso Hlandze

Sifiso Hlandze has just completed his PhD in History at the University of Zululand, South Africa. He is a lecturer in the History Department at the University of Eswatini as well as a labour historian who is also interested in political economy history.