The government does not care about workers
Trade union leaders took turns to lambast the government for failure to implement policies and conventions that can improve working conditions for the country’s workers at this year’s May Day event held at the Sam Sono Stadium in Selebi-Phikwe. Just like other African nations, the government was accused of signing conventions just to be politically correct and then not bother implementing such policies.
“We are not asking. We are demanding our rights and economic emancipation as much progress has not been achieved since the COVID-19 crisis. The crisis has adversely affected the progress made in the workers and human rights, reduced real wages, and increased poverty and inequality, especially among us, the working class. For this reason, we, as the labour movement, should rekindle our patriotic spirit of fighting and protecting our rights and the rights of the vulnerable,” said the Botswana Federation of Trade Unions president, Comrade Martha Molema.
She said social dialogue initiatives that would have benefited the workers have failed because the government does not come to the party. “Botswana, committed to aligning her labour laws to the international labour standards.
However, a lot still needs to be done to progress the labour law review process, which resulted in drafting instructions being sent to the Attorney General Chambers. We wish that the Draft Bill will be discussed in Parliament by July 2023 and assented into law before the next May Day,” she stated.
She further accused Botswana of using ‘passive resistance’ to avoid implementing initiatives that otherwise benefit the workers, adding that as one of the members of the tripartite structure of the ILO, the government is always inactive on issues that social partners have agreed on.
She further said: “Very little gets done. There have been several initiatives supported by the ILO, but most of them never saw the light of day. If they did, they eventually fizzle away. There are many examples. The Public Service Bargaining Council (PSBC) is one such example; the National Occupational Health and Safety Policy and National Employment
Policy implementation are just a few.”
Despite the labour movements’ repeated requests for the country to ratify and domesticate key labour conventions, Botswana reportedly ratified the last labour convention in 2000.
In the Bechuanaland days, the country was regarded as a desert and the colonialists did not have any interest in developing the country and after independence Batswana joined hands to develop the Republic with pride and no payments but the situation was not rectified when the economy was booming during the 1980’s according to Comrade Johannes Tshukudu, BOFEPUSU President.
“We, the current workers, have inherited these slavery salaries and even now the BDP regime does not see the need to improve the situation even though inflation is high. We, Workers of Botswana are not happy because generally our welfare and conditions of service leaves much to be desired under this political regime. This is so because there are no objective social dialogue structures to facilitate balanced labour relations. Both government and other employers do as they please.”