Why Botswana’s Essential Workers Won’t Stay Silent

Worker’s rights in Botswana are provided for by the Employment Act, Workers Compensation Act, and Trade Union and Employer’s Act. It is important to establish whether all the legislation protecting workers does enough because they are a significant part of our society. We have recently experienced several strikes by workers’ unions.

In December 2024, the Botswana Temporary and Unemployed Teachers Union protested against poor working conditions, high unemployment due to working permits being given to foreigners, and insufficient salaries that teachers receive. They were particularly against the short-term contracts given to temporary teachers and the low payments thereof. This is clearly not in accordance with government promises to deliver decent jobs and establish as well as uphold a minimum living wage for workers. The current regime’s manifesto was crafted with these promises at the core. It is indeed to everyone’s dismay that we see the government being slow to act on their promises as time is slowly ticking, and the people are hoping for action. The Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Honourable Pius Mokgware, in his address to the Union, assured them of the regime’s reception of their requests and announced that his ministry had stopped giving work permits to foreign teachers so as to prioritize citizens in hiring teachers. As for the living wage, it has, to this point, become a monotonous song that the Government is working towards it. The concern comes with the failure to provide a timeline, which causes uncertainty.

Another recent protest was by University of Botswana staff members, particularly the University of Botswana Academic Support Staff Union (UBASSU). The protest, similarly, was a result of late payment of staff members’ salaries. The University of Botswana has, for a long time, faced challenges of late payment and has time and again marched on the streets to be heard. It is because of their fury now that they have even threatened to go on strike. According to a publication by The Voice Newspaper on December 6, 2024, the President of UBASSU said, “The minister is not dealing with this urgently, and it is quite surprising because we know that shortly after being appointed, he was at UB to meet the Vice Chancellor (Professor David Norris). So, if he does not respond to us, we are going on a strike.” The challenges that University of Botswana staff members have been facing date back to the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) regime and should now have been a thing of the past if the current regime were committed to delivering their promises. It is common knowledge that the previous regime did not respond lightly to protests, which the UDC government, to their credit, has done away with because of their “Human Rights Approach,” as President Advocate Duma Boko refers to their approach. However, the government still gives little to no positive action towards these protests, and it makes no huge difference.

There have been a number of protests since the new regime’s assumption of power, but these two, along with the decision by the Botswana Nurses Union (BONU) to stop availing themselves for emergency calls, are the most interesting and raise a lot of questions. BONU has complained about not being compensated for the time they spend being on standby and waiting for emergency calls at their workstations. The issue has even been before the courts in 2023, and the court ruled in their favor, clarifying that “time spent waiting to be called to duty while on standby is not considered work and is therefore not compensable.” BONU then recently decided to adhere to this ruling by the High Court because they are not compensated for that time, which they are not required to be on duty.

The acts protecting the rights of workers are present and go ahead to spell out the obligations of employers. Parliament should make the laws stricter to avoid mistreatment of workers. In cases where the government itself does not adhere to the laws, the workers, through unions, should approach the courts for redress. The BDP government was known to ignore decisions made by the courts of law, which was becoming an issue of concern. However, we are yet to face a situation where the UDC government is taken before the courts and ruled against. The hope of every citizen is for a “Human-rights based approach,” which will adhere to the decisions.