Ending AGOA will cost 'our souls and bodies’: Lesotho union leader

JOHANNESBURG - Workers across 30 African countries this month are anxiously waiting to see if the United States will extend a flagship trade programme that has sustained their jobs for a quarter of a century.

President Donald Trump's protectionist trade policies have plunged the fate of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) into doubt, and African manufacturers are lobbying the U.S. Congress for a last-ditch temporary extension beyond an end-September expiry date.

If AGOA is not renewed, Lesotho - a tiny, poor, landlocked country surrounded by South Africa - could be among those hardest hit because it sends around 45% of its exports to the United States, according to Trade Minister Mokhethi Shelile.

After Trump slapped a crippling 50% tariff rate - later changed to 15% - on Lesotho in April, the mountain kingdom declared a state of disaster.

Trump described Lesotho as a country "nobody had ever heard of".

Context spoke to Solong Senohe, general secretary of the United Textile Employees Union (UNITE), which represents more than 5,000 garment workers, about what the double blow of AGOA's expiry and tariffs could mean.

When President Donald Trump said nobody knew about Lesotho, it was surprising because he, and most Americans, have probably worn clothes made here in our factories.

We make brands like Nike, Levi's, Reebok and more.

There are about 35,000 workers in these factories, and 95% are women.

AGOA means a lot to those workers, especially in a country with an unemployment rate of about 38% for youth.

The announcement of the tariffs meant employers had to suspend operations and lay off about 12,000 workers for about three months.

Most of the workers are renting houses here in town (Maseru), as they have migrated from rural areas to where the factories are located.

They are unable to pay rent and even tuition, and their children are unable to return to classes because they cannot pay to transport their children to school.

If AGOA ends, on top of tariffs, workers in Lesotho are going to be super exploited by those companies that are still in the country, because many of the larger companies exporting to the U.S. are going to close, and then desperation will rise.

People will be fighting for jobs in the textile industry.

Most of the local companies that are not exporting to America are not complying with labour standards. This will mean more exploitation than ever.

The second issue is that people are going to migrate to South Africa, seeking jobs as domestic workers, going into illegal mining, sex work and so forth.

Our only neighbour is hostile to foreigners.

When you speak to people to the people who are selling their bodies in the streets, most of them are from the textile industry. So this will increase.

And then most of the other workers will go to the informal sector and try to establish small businesses ... and there's going to be no business for them.

Already we are seeing companies under financial strain making workers work overtime without being paid. They are taking advantage of workers who desperately need jobs.

Gender-based violence is one of the issues that is also emerging now. Managers are saying to women, 'OK, before I employ you, let's have sex.' Many women feel they have no choice. Ending AGOA will give them even fewer options.

Workers are frustrated and they are confused, because they can see the destruction of their lives, the destruction of their children, destruction of everything they have.

Some of these workers, for the past two months, they had to sell their goods, anything they could sell.

After they finish selling those goods, it means they will have to sell their souls and bodies.

So they are saying, 'Let's try by all means to make sure that the government of Lesotho secures a better deal with the government of America.' Even if it is not AGOA, whatever that is can bring a better result for the lives of Basotho (the people of Lesotho).

You know, we did not make AGOA ourselves. AGOA was made by America, promising the African continent greener pastures.

Our government also took advantage of AGOA, boosting employment. And if it can be stopped just like that, without notifying people to prepare themselves, it is unfortunate that we are going to say: 'America was not serious about our lives.'

So we are saying to every American, to the American government, they should reconsider the decision that they have made, because that decision is already destroying thousands and thousands of lives in Lesotho.   

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

(Reporting by Kim Harrisberg; Editing by Ayla Jean Yackley.)