Trade Minister rejects textile unions’ charge

MASERU – Trade and Labour Minister, Mokhethi Shelile, says a statement that Lesotho’s textile workers were earning enough is a gross misrepresentation of what he said during a radio interview last month.

Shelile, who has come under fire from trade unions over the issue, said he was quoted out of context.

He told thepost last night that “it is a lie that I said textile workers are earning a lot of money”.

“Someone is deliberately misinterpreting my statements during the interview with MoAfrika FM,” Shelile said.

“Even the presenter who was interviewing me, (Morao) Hlephe, says he is shocked by how these people have twisted my words,” he said.

“Some people are blinded by their political masters to an extent that they start blatant lies to score cheap political gains,” he said.

“This is petty.”

Shelile was responding to allegations made by the Independent Democratic Unions of Lesotho (IDUL) secretary general, May Rathakane, at a press conference earlier yesterday.

Rathakane told the press conference that the unions had lost all hope that the government will improve the lives of textile workers.

“The minister’s speech about workers, especially textile workers, in Lesotho earning (a big) salaries as compared to other countries like Singapore is irrelevant,” he said.

“As workers’ unions, the minister’s speech gave us an impression that Lesotho’s government aims not to increase salaries for textile workers.”

Rathakane alleged that the Sam Matekane-led government did not intend to increase textile workers’ salaries.

He said Matekane had promised during election campaigns for last October’s general election to significantly increase workers’ salaries to M4 000 a month, up from the current M2 200.

“We want to make the minister aware that the salaries earned by textile workers is insufficient as compared to workers in other countries,” Rathakane said.

“From that salary they deduct transportation costs and rent and other expenses that include medication and doctor fees if one sustains injuries while at work,” he said.

“In those countries transport, rent, medical aid and food are taken care of by the government.”

“This simply shows that the salary earned is too little and that is why they vouch for M4 000 which was promised to them,” said Rathakane.

A textile worker in Lesotho earns an average of M2 200 per month.

Rathakane said they are disappointed by the government as it has not stated how it is going to keep the already existing jobs safe and how they are going to create more jobs.

He said the IDUL is worried after Finance Minister Dr Retšelisitsoe Matlanyane recently claimed that the government is broke.

“We are troubled to hear about all the problems the government is facing financially and we are worried that at this rate our issues may not be solved as all we hear are problems without solutions,” Rathakane said.

He said they had a meeting with Prime Minister Matekane and Shelile towards the end of last year where they spoke about the challenges workers were facing.

He said they told Matekane that he should capacitate the Directorate of Dispute Prevention and Resolution (DDPR), Labour Court and Labour Appeal Court because they lack resources and judges.

The IDUL said it told the government that workers are receiving unpleasant services from those courts mainly because the courts were grossly under-funded.

The workers’ unions said while they appreciated what the government had done after coming into office, they are “disappointed to hear that the people who stole government money have still not repaid it”.

“This makes us wonder if we will even get the M4 000 monthly salaries as promised.”

Shelile said his views had been “misinterpreted” for propaganda purposes by his political opponents.

He said his argument was that under the United States’ Africa Growth Opportunities Act (AGOA) Lesotho has a chance to produce a wide range of things for export and “sticking to only one product will not work for us”.

He said he likened this to a vendor selling a maize cob for M15 and yet he bought it for M16 and then expect a salary increment from the sales.

“I was merely saying we should diversify our products if we want to earn more, saying presently we are producing what cannot pay us more.”

Shelile said the RFP government is committed to the improvement of workers’ conditions of service but at the same time improving the business environment.

Tholoana Lesenya