Africa-Press – Eswatini. “Ignorance is a sickness, hence it can only be treated by one applying himself/herself in reading and research.”
This statement was made by the Federation of Eswatini Business Community (FESBC) Head of Transformation Mavela Sigwane, when he was responding to Montigny Investments’ claims that the former is a terrorist group. Montigny Investments issued the statement with the aforementioned allegations on Thursday December 14, 2023. “By definition, FESBC is the Federation of Eswatini Business Community. Our mandate is to advocate for a fair trading environment within the country and outside where indigenous business are trading,” Sigwane said.
He added that every country had its own federation of local business community and Eswatini’s case was not different. He said that in the country, there were two employer entities; Business Eswatini and FESBC. Therefore, he said labelling of the organisation with any other name amounted to defamatory in its nature and that could not be tolerated. He added that the question of anti-competitiveness allegedly posed by Montigny Investments or anyone else still required a clear response; hence misdirection of efforts towards resolving the trade question would not assist anyone.
He said regarding claims that FESBC ‘in bed’ with the proscribed political entity – People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), the head of transformation said that was not true. He said this was because PUDEMO is a political party, while FESBC is an employers’ federation, hence their mandates were different.
Sickness
“Ignorance is a sickness, hence it can only be treated by one applying himself/herself in reading and research,” Sigwane said. On another note, he said the overall impression on these allegations made against FESBC by Montigny Investments were defamatory and criminal in their nature. He said the silence of government in calling these companies to order was noted and would be recorded in the next International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conference, which had a potential of getting the country to special paragraph.
He added that mutual respect between FESBC and local businesses would promote domestic trade in the country. He said these were not political concerns, but socio-economic worries, which directly affect both the local employers’ federation and the employees’ federations across the country, hence it had to be addressed accordingly. Moreover, he said their posture during the political unrest where issues of stickers and others, were explained and could not be brought up again by an entity, which allegedly has serious questions on fair trade to respond to.
He said Montigny Investments needed to focus just on giving a convincing response to those concerns and comply with the State institution called Eswatini Competition Commission. Otherwise, he said the process would have to be escalated to their markets, where there would be serious deprecations.
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