Africa-Press – Eswatini. Public transport workers are divided on the shutdown planned for Tuesday.
Workers at the Manzini Bus Rank have distanced themselves from the shutdown as they assured the nation they would report for work as it would be a normal day.
They also distanced themselves from SWATCAWU Secretary General, Sticks Nkambule, whom they accused of making decisions without consulting them.
They called on other bus ranks to elect their own representatives who would speak on their behalf and make decisions.
Nkambule, however, threw a spanner in the works as he maintained that there would no public transport on Tuesday, adding that they would not talk on behalf of people who were not their members.
The Manzini public transport workers took the resolution yesterday morning during a meeting held at the Manzini Bus Rank.
According to Lungelo Dlamini, who chaired the meeting, they were aggrieved by the reports disseminated by SWATCAWU that people should remain at home as there would be no public transport.
Dlamini said as the Manzini Bus Rank workers they were not aware of such reports as they were never consulted when a decision was taken to that effect.
“Not even a single public transport worker or an owner at the Manzini Bus Rank has come out to claim knowledge of such reports.
“This has left us with so many unanswered questions as to who exactly has the audacity to take decisions on our behalf without consulting us, let alone being a member of the bus rank workers,” he said.
He said after making thorough investigations it surfaced that the reports were disseminated by Nkambule.
Dlamini said what had become a thorn in their flesh was that Nkambule made decisions that placed their lives in danger because it now appears as though they were the ones responsible for making decisions on behalf of the other bus ranks when in actual fact it was not the case.
Adding, he said what troubled them most was that the Manzini Bus Rank had been paraded as a dictator of all the other bus ranks in the country when it came to decision making.
He said they were positive that operations would be normal on Tuesday but were concerned that commuters may remain at home following reports of the unavailability of public transport.
“As public transport workers, we are not aware of any shutdown of public transport and we will be operating normally on Tuesday,” he said.
Elect
During the meeting, the workers agreed to elect their own representatives and also urged the other ranks in the country to do likewise so that moving forward they would make a collective decision and issue out a formal statement about any issue pertaining to them.
As a result, they ousted Nkambule with a vote of no confidence and resolved to elect Eswatini Kombi and Buses Workers Allied Union (EKABAWU) President Mcolisi Fakudze and Bongani Dlamini to be their spokespersons.
They also urged the media to liaise with the two whenever they needed information concerning them.
Furthermore, they took a resolution that even though they would operate normally on Tuesday, they would elect a team to represent them at the High Court during the trial of the incarcerated legislators, Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube.
They said the team would furnish them with a detailed report of the proceedings and from there they would then decide on the strategies to be used in ensuring that the MPs were liberated.
The workers said such decisions would be taken by an interim committee, which would be formed by representatives of the other bus ranks in the country.
The newly-elected spokesperson, Fakudze said the workers had implored Nkambule to desist from discussing issues that relate to them since he was not a public transport worker let alone an owner.
He emphasised that public transport would be available on Tuesday as per the resolution of the workers and further urged commuters to come in their numbers.
Fakudze said by so saying, they were not side-lining the parliamentarians but rather they would stand in solidarity with them by sending representatives who would support them on their behalf.
The Swaziland Local Transport Association (SLTA) Secretary General, Ambrose Dlamini said he was not at liberty to comment since the National Road Transport Council (NRTC) had a consultative meeting with government on the same issue.
He said he could only make a comment after receiving a detailed report of the meeting from the Chairperson of the NRTC, Magesi Dlamini.
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