Recently
Performance Based Reward System (PBRS) was introduced in central
government and as usual Local Authorities were left in the cold.
Why, we don’t know? The govt has taken too long to make
law that allow workers to unionise hence they (workers) remained
fragmented and weak as they do not have bargaining power as
associations.
Freedom of information
There are certain incidents that have happened that
worries us. This is inclusive of the decision by the
Minister of Communication, Science and Technology
to switch off phone in part of Masa-a-sele of Radio
Botswana. We are also challenging the decision to
stop the covering of political activities by BTV because
if those activities were covered they would raise
the political awareness of the members of the public
thus reducing voter apathy.
Commissions
The Govt has been appointing commission after commission,
which did not bear any fruits. We consider this as
a mitagatory strategy adapted by the Government to
silence whoever would have been aggrieved before the
appointment of such a commission. The list is endless
e.g. De villiers commission, Seepapitso Commission,
Motswaledi Commission, Gittings Commission, Christie
Commission, Kgabo Commission, Balopi Commission, Khumalo
Commission and others.
Labour Matters
We appreciate the decision by the govt to have complied
with some long pending ILO Conventions especially
those that empower us to unionise. We therefore, call
for the expedition of the amendment of the integration
of the Public Service Act, ULGS Act, and Teaching
Service Act. If this is not done the compliance with
ILO conventions will be meaningless.
Voter apathy
We at BULGSA believe that Batswana can contribute
significantly towards enriching our democracy by participating
fully in elections to popularly elect legislators
who will represent their interests with full commitment.
We are very much concerned about the disease called
voter apathy, which is prevalent in Botswana.
House of represantatives
For democracy to be nurtured there has to be the
House of Representatives. This institution will inevitably
enable members of civil society including trade unions
and chiefs to have legislative powers side by side
with parliament. We do not accept the current system
of parliament and House of Chiefs.
Devaluation of Pula
Information from a reliable source, states that the
effects of the devaluation of Pula by 7.5% hit hard
on the health, leisure, transport and communication
sector whose inflation rose by 0.6% to 1.3%. This
means that it has substantially reduced the purchasing
power of many Batswana. Effectively that means a reduction
in the salaries and wages of the workers by 7.5%.
Contact us info@bulgsa.org.bw or
Private Bag 40, Francistown
Tel: 2413312 Fax: 2413312
