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Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the trajectories of continuity and change in labour-management relations in a Swazi company town managed by white Christian entrepreneurs. Despite recent changes in investment patterns, pre-existing labour practices continue to play a major role in the human economy of Swaziland.

Paper long abstract:

Recent changes in foreign investment patterns in southern Africa are having a major impact on enterprises and their workforces. Yet, pre-existing labour practices are not always deeply transformed by these shifts. My paper explores these trajectories of continuity and change in Swaziland, with specific reference to the ethnography of labour-management relations in Enkopolwani, a company town managed by white North American and white southern African Pentecostal Christian entrepreneurs.

Previously a mining operation, since 2006 the town is run as a not-for-profit social enterprise where orphan care goes hand in hand with economic activities like timber processing and tourism. The original vision was conceived by a charismatic Canadian businessman whose ideas about labour practices were closely aligned with his business experience in the Canadian context. However, the day-to-day management of the town was from the very beginning in the hands of a group of white Swazis and white South Africans. In line with the poor standards of the rest of the country, black Swazi workers in Enkopolwani receive low salaries and live and work in harsh conditions.

As in older Swazi workplaces controlled by white employers, Enkopolwani labour relations are shaped by paternalism, a tacit acknowledgement of racial difference and a high degree of informality in the negotiation of production regimes and remuneration packages. Despite significant differences in the quality of labour relations, in these companies the principles of reciprocity, negotiated difference and flexible planning continue to mediate the impact of structural changes on the human economy of Swaziland.