Unions' reject government offer

Swaziland unions on Thursday rejected a conditional lifting of a ban on their activities by the government. In a statement, the unions said if the lifting of the ban has conditions, then nothing had changed, PANA reported. Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini on Wednesday said the lifting of the ban on mass meetings was conditional on trade unions discussing purely labour issues. The government banned mass meetings last October following political unrest. The events forced trade unions to hold their meetings in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga Province, in South Africa. Secretary general of Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), Musa Dlamini said his movement would go ahead and hold a proposed mass meetings in Maputo, Mozambique to discuss among other issues, a recently effected salary increment. "The premier should not attach conditions. It's like telling someone how to live in his own homestead. The lifting of the ban does not change anything," he emphasised.