The President of the Institute of People Management (IPM), Sharon Maziya, has revealed that 28 cases of sexual harassment have been reported at the workplace since January and 60% of companies don’t have anti-sexual harassment policies in the country.
Maziya made these remarks at Happy Valley Hotel during the Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration Mission (CMAC) 2025 Annual Labour Law Seminar.
She said that the aforementioned reports were the tip of the iceberg as the statistics for March 2025 are yet to be counted and reported to her office.
“There is a serious problem in the kingdom with reports of sexual harassment in the workplace. This is a controversial topic and we need to talk about it. Looking at the statistics we see, that in January we had 12 reports of sexual harassment – 11 female and 1 male. In February, we had a massive jump, we had 15 females reporting sexual harassment and 1 male reporting sexual harassment. This is unacceptable and we cannot work like this, “she said.
Maziya emphasized that Eswatini is aligned with the International Labour Organization (ILO), which the kingdom joined in September 1968 upon gaining independence.
“ILO is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that focuses on promoting social justice and fair labour standards globally. In Eswatini, we align with ILO principles, where workplace bullying is described as repeated, unreasonable, and harmful behavior that threatens an employee’s health whether mental, physical, or emotional, and also threatens the employee’s safety,”
She noted that workplace bullying can take various forms, including belittling remarks, assigning unfair tasks, withholding important information, verbal abuse, humiliation, intimidation, and exclusion.
The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work has also classified these behaviors as serious threats to employee well-being.
Maziya reiterated that only 40% of companies in Eswatini have anti-sexual harassment policies in place, leaving a significant gap in employee protection.
“Unfortunately, a massive 60% don’t have these policies in place. As an organization, we propose a safe, respectful, and dignified environment for all employees. Bullying comes in many forms and we even see bullying on social media which is a growing concern,” she said.
She also noted a growing concern among men regarding workplace dynamics, as more women have become empowered over the past 15 years.
“We have heard men asking what can they do with these recently empowered women because over the last 15 years society has been empowering women, but men have been left behind,” she noted
She concluded by calling for stronger support systems for victims of harassment and bullying.
“Victims of harassment and bullying should be given support and education coupled with counseling because they are not the case of the bullying or the harassment,” she concluded.