The State, labour-related policy and the worker: a historical perspective. Statism, labour and labour policy in southern Africa: a comparative study of Botswana and Swaziland: part 2 (1984-2004)

Ntumy, E.K.B.

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Title:	The State, labour-related policy and the worker: a historical perspective. Statism, labour and labour policy in southern Africa: a comparative study of Botswana and Swaziland: part 2 (1984-2004)
Author:	Ntumy, E.K.B.
Year:	2001
Periodical:	Lesotho Law Journal: A Journal of Law and Development (ISSN 0255-6472)
Volume:	14
Issue:	2
Pages:	261-285
Language:	English
Notes:	biblio. refs.
Geographic terms:	Botswana Swaziland - Eswatini Southern Africa
Subjects:	labour policy labour law labour relations State law Labor policy Employees Labor laws and legislation imperialism history
Abstract:	The historical links between the colonial and the independent States of Botswana and Swaziland have turned juridification, especially in terms of labour issues, into an instrument through which a perceived legitimate social order backed by coercive authority is imposed in the name of stability, industrial peace and investment. The author examines the legal evolution of the nation-State in Botswana and Swaziland, the legislative regimes that were put in place to consolidate the interests of the colonial State machinery and the instrumentality of juridification in the creation of socioeconomic conditions inducing different forms of work relations and the concomitant hardships which resulted for 'native' workers. With independence, both countries were quite apprehensive of and, therefore, reactive to what labour, as an organized entity, could do. The subsequent evolution of Swaziland labour legislation has also been the evolution of the political economy and its dynamics over the years. Compliance with ILO benchmarks in tandem with restrictive domestic legislation in certain spheres keeps international pressure at bay while entrenching disparities characteristic of the Swaziland socioeconomic system. The Botswana State presides over a free market economy and is caught between the dichotomy of deregulation and intervention. It perceives the need to adopt a strategy of structured and organized neutralization of organized interest groups such as labour through juridification and close administrative supervision, and seeks to resolve conflicts through a prescribed system of established rights and an inclination towards monist and unitarian ideas of bureaucratic organization and governance. Ref., sum. [ASC Leiden abstract]

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