Africa-Press – Eswatini. Eswatini men may not enjoy the proposed privilege of having ‘paternity leave’, mostly due to the cultural practice of polygamy.
There are also fears that allowing such may create inequality and men could use the time to make more babies. Paternity leave is practised in other countries whereby men, whose wives have given birth, are allowed some time off work to assist in taking care of the newborn. Delegates of the 2024 Labour Law Seminar, hosted by the Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration Commission (CMAC), said the issue of considering paternity leave in countries that practised polygamy, among other cultural practices, might need to be reviewed to ensure that it did not create inequality before Eswatini could consider it. The cultural practice of polygamy and whether men would really spend their paternity leave with their newborns, were the mostly raised concerns during the 2024 Labour Law Seminar on Friday.
The second day of the seminar, which was themed ‘Enhancing harmony in the workplace’, covered topics such as social security of workers in employers’ liquidation or sequestration – the need for legislative amendments, mental health at work: trend and analysis 2020-2023, as well as best practices: Paternity leave, lessons learnt from South Africa. The South African Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) Acting Director, Xolani Nduna, told delegates that paternity leave was still a challenge in SA. He mentioned that the talks of this leave started when a couple cited discrimination issues and questioned why the mother was entitled to maternity leave, while the father was not granted paternity leave. He cited that people were not happy that the father of the child was given three days off family responsibility leave, while the mother was given 10 weeks.
From January 1, 2020, the three days of family responsibility leave employees were entitled to upon the birth of a child, was replaced with parental leave, as per the Labour Laws Amendment Act of 2018. In South Africa, as long as a male is listed as the father of the child, qualifies for parental leave. After the presentation, delegates had to look into the possibilities of having a maternity leave in the context of Eswatini. The programme director, who is also one of CMAC directors, Nokwazi Mathabela, noted that Eswatini was not in isolation, hence it was time to look into considering paternity leave or parental responsibility leave in the different kinds of families that existed in the society. The delegates noted a number of issues that needed to be interrogated before calling for this form of leave.
Nduna shared that in South Africa, the law had a number of amendments, including the name of the leave from maternity/paternity leave to parental rights leave. He said it was important to look at the ever-changing family dynamics, because in some instances, the mothers were sole providers, while the fathers were stay-at-home parents. He added that some parents were of the same sex, among others types of receiving a child through adoption and surrogacy. He said it was important to embrace non-racialism and non-sexism when looking at having a parental responsibility leave.
Bewilderment
The Director of Legal Aid Eswatini, Lungile Magagula, noted that custom dictated that a father could only see a baby after three months of birth, expressing bewilderment on what the father would be doing at home under the parental responsibility leave. “Chances of him actually taking care of the baby are very limited if not non-existent. If the father has multiple partners, he qualifies for paternity leave for his wives, because he would be listed as a father for all the babies. Don’t you think that this provision, which is supposed to actually create equality, would create inequality?” she asked. Magagula questioned how would Eswatini deal with a situation where the parental right leave was abused for other purposes. She mentioned that in the African context, fathers only saw their newborns after three months. She noted that it would seem the leave would be more advantageous for polygamists, who might have more than one parental leave every year.
“The man might have 10 wives and qualify for paternity. Have we thought about the implications? Did South Africa look at those aspects and how are the findings in that regard?” she asked. Legal Practitioner Ntsika Fakudze raised concerns relating to legislation preparedness for such changes. He mentioned that in South Africa, the issue stated in court influenced legislative changes.“I’m concerned about how the judge tried to be descriptive about it. Is this a practice that is common?” Musa Sibandze asked how frequently the parental leave could be taken or what were the limitations, because maternity leave had restrictions.
Nduna, when responding to some of the questions, acknowledged that most men hardly spent the leave in question with their newborns. “I know when I got married in 1992, I was given time off after my son was born. I can tell you today, I spent most of my time going to my friends and relatives, telling them that Unyanaka Nduna uvelile (my son has been born),” he said.
He told the delegates that as Eswatini was looking into legalising this leave, it was crucial to look at those loopholes. In terms of the three-month waiting period for fathers, he said it was crucial that when Parliament made amendments, it had to take into consideration those cultural practices and make provisions that were practical.
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