BOFEPUSU expects an update on sona policy promises

On Monday, the president’s gives the state of the nation address, the last of 2023. He will do so to the audience of multitude of members of the Botswana community from all quarters, who face a wide range of socioeconomic and political challenges.

It is common cause that this is a policy address stating the progress, and limitations of the nation in reaching individual and collective aspirations. It is normally a reflection on past successes and challenges, whilst it ponders on prospects of an unfolding future. The aspirations of our nation are anchored on continuous plight to achieve national visions, to seek true transformation of lives and to cultivate an environment for individual excellence. This version of the state of the nation address is the last, but one, before the setting of next year’s elections which are expected to be held in the customary month of October.

The Public Service Bargaining Council (PSBC)

It surely should touch largely on the political promises of the past general election, and predominantly buildup on the last SONAs to reflect the progresses gained since the first SONA of the President Dr. M.E.K. Masisi’s reign.

As workers, we have picked that often the SONAs are stated in isolation from the preceding statements, causing for some of the promises to be lost or unaccounted for. For example, some of the very first of the current administration’s promises was unconditional resuscitation of the Public Service Bargaining Council (PSBC) where wage negotiations would be carried out in good faith. Whereas the government is in the process of holistic review of labour laws, we are aggrieved that we are sitting on the sixth year since the demise of the PSBC.

This has far-reaching implications for social dialogue anchored on the ILO Conventions 151, 87 and 98, all which Botswana is a signatory to. An update on the progress of the PSBC is long overdue.

Constitutional Review and Worker’s Rights

We also look forward to hearing from the President, progress regarding the much-anticipated constitutional review. As BOFEPUSU, we appreciated the efforts made to venture into this terrain that had been a concern for many years – to undertake a constitutional reform to give legitimacy to the supreme law. We are grateful that the commission was co-chaired by one of our tried and trusted leaders and included a variety of people from different walks of life in the spirit of inclusivity and ownership.

We anticipate the president to reveal to the nation, the state at which promised review lies. It will be felonious to expend public funds on a review process that would later culminate in nothingness. The greater population of Batswana are waiting with abated breaths to experience for the first time a home-made constitution.

As labour, our submissions were lucid and anchored on the very fact that we are party to International Labour Organisation Conventions that grant basic rights to workers of member states. As social partners, we embraced the opportunity to contribute ideas which will propel the working Motswana into a dignified and self-sufficient individual. We basically called for the enshrining of labour rights in the new constitution – specifically the right to work, the right to organize, the right to bargain collectively, and the right to strike.

The right to work

Currently, the country’s efforts towards the creation of avenues of employment for its citizens are not a constitutional obligation. These right forms part of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, Article 23, which specifies not only the right to do work but the protection against unemployment. This right to work promises individuals some opportunity of belongingness in the economy, to share a space and some value in the development of one’s country, whilst earning a dignified wage to protect self from the abyss of poverty. It is our belief that engaging in gainful employment is not just a basis for individual decency and dignity but creates a significant leverage against competing social ills. It also unburdens the government of social security schemes and carefully understood, an ambitious attitude towards employment creation will stimulate the economy as tax revenues are bound to increase.

The right to strike, similarly has attracted over the years greater controversy in the international spectrum of labour relations. Competing interests, particularly from governments and business have in the past sponsored a futile motion at the International Labour Conference to ban this right.

Collective bargaining and the right to Strike.

Leading economies have increasingly placed moratoriums on this right on the excuse that it renders crisis to the economy and brings about chaos to the workplace. We, however, believe that the right to strike is the ultimate hinge upon which labour rights are placed. Carefully undertaken a strike brings about fairness and halts exploitation of workers in the workplace. Without it the right to collective bargaining is academic. In the wake of Covid 19, countries including Botswana, issued legal instruments barring workers from indulging in industrial action. Whereas this was premised on preventing convocations and promoting public health, we experienced an onslaught on the enjoyment of this right. On some occasions, refusal to grant this right is established by refusal to grant recognition to organized labour. Employers delay, without reasonable cause, to formalize recognition of workers organized in the workplace to pursue collective bargaining. The greatest threat gto the right to strike is not manifested at the end, but at the beginning where employers deliberately deny workers the right to organize and to form into trade unions.

Lastly, in the past SONA there was detailed mention of government’s support for sustainable livelihoods and climate change policy. We are concerned with the greatly informalizing nature of work, in rural and urban areas alike, which forms a very significant basis for livelihoods of a great number of our population. This creates an array of problems ranging from precarity to indecency of working conditions of individuals engaged in this sector. Whereas we appreciate the bourgeoning hardship of revolutionizing informal economic activity, greater strides are needed to enable informal sector businesses to access meaningful funding to aid them out of informality. Similar attention is deserved in our green politics. There is greater need to finance and fund research on green policies as the world edges towards green jobs.

Yours in workers struggle