"Jobs in South Africa's footwear factories that were once considered permanent have turned casual since its government introduced free trade policies........."
BRUSSELS (IPS) - When European campaigners suggest that a free trade deal could harm the poor, they typically encounter a frosty reaction from civil servants in Brussels. Still, no one tries to muzzle them.
Yet when a Namibian trade analyst insinuated that the European Union was trying to browbeat southern African governments into signing an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) before they had a chance to analyse its consequences, he found himself out of a job.
Wallie Roux, a market researcher for the Namibian meat firm Meatco, spoke out against EPAs in a speech to the Labour Resource and Research Institute in April when he claimed the EU is trying to enter the Guinness Book of Records for the most rapidly negotiated trade agreement in history.
His remarks were reported in Namibian newspaper New Era on April 18. Meatco responded to his claim by suspending him on May 11.
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