It will be a real pity if the Botswana trade union movement was to split over an issue that is not at the core of their mandate. We have seen over the past few days the BOFEPUSU leadership publicly displaying their differences on whether or not a resolution was ever adopted by the federation to endorse UDC. This morning, Motshegwa gave long winded answers to a simple question by Reginald Richardson as to when the resolution to endorse UDC was taken. Motshegwa ultimately stated that the resolution was taken at Letlhabile in 2011 after consulting the 4 parties that were in the Umbrella. The truth is, there was no Umbrella party in 2011. The parties were in the process of negotiating and at the time of the public sector strike when a joint rally was held in White City, the parties had not as yet agreed on the Umbrella model. After the collapse of the talks in 2012, the unions requested for a meeting where they urged the parties to consider further attempts at unity. Towards the end of 2013, the BCP had a meeting with the BOFEPUSU leadership which included Tobokani Rari. At the meeting we shared details of our manifesto on labour issues and I clearly recall Rari stating that their resolution is to support candidates who are pro labour and that they will not endorse any single political party. I have listened to Rari recently alleging that the Umbrella was the brainchild of the Unions and there is a resolution to endorse UDC. Clearly, the silly season is upon us. Untruths are being peddled all over and as they say, lies have short legs. A lie should at the minimum be true unto itself. It should be aligned with the known facts. To claim that a resolution was taken in 2011 and only announced in 2014 is tantamount to taking the public for a joke. Not long ago, the BOFEPUSU leadership was at pains to explain that Motshwarakgole public utterances were not an endorsement of the UDC but that he was misunderstood. Now they have turned around to say it is the actual position of the federation. My advise to BCP supporters who are members of BOFEPUSU is that they should stay calm. Our manifesto is the most comprehensive on issues of promoting the interests of the workers. We are committed to the pledges we make on setting up a dedicated Ministry of Labour, introducing a living wage in place of the minimum wage, increasing the maternity leave to 14 weeks in line with the ILO standard and ensuring that the Essential Services dispensation is not used to curtail the rights of the workers. As I said, its sad to see the biggest labour grouping in the country shooting itself in the foot in an effort to propel political interests of individuals within the leadership. Their disunity denies them the moral authority to preach unity to politicians. After all, would we be justified in dictating that BOFEPUSU and BFTU should merge or the public should punish them for not forming a single labour federation?
Posted on: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 06:57:29 +0000
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