14 Mar 2017

The MP for Mmathethe-Molapowabojang has said it is important to align skills with the market needs.

Debating the 2017/18 budget for the Ministry of Employment, Labour and Skills Development in parliament on Monday, Dr Alfred Madigele said this will address the skills gap that currently haunts the nation.

He called on the minister to monitor Panda, a private company that makes bricks, saying employees work in a dusty environment but are not provided with protective clothing which makes them susceptible to different ailments such as lung diseases.

Dr Madigele said the employees are further not allowed to take tea breaks although the nature of their work requires high levels of energy.

He said employees working in farms near Gopong also complained about poor environment and that they do not have contracts hence are fired at any time.

The MP said there are reports that some under age children were also employed, adding the farmers take advantage of the plight of the Gopong residents, who most of them are lingering in poverty due to limited employment opportunities.

Talking about skills development, Dr Madigele said he hoped the minister would resuscitate brigades and change the name as the institution has been stigmatised as one for academically challenged people.

He said this was imperative as Botswana continues to rely on foreigners for the jobs such as plumbing.

Commenting, Specially Elected MP, Mr Mephato Reatile said the security companies were exploiting their workers as they were given monthly contracts in the end denying them severance benefits.

He said there are some people who got sick in the line of duty yet they were never compensated and blamed the employees unions saying some of them only provide assistance for active members who pay monthly fees.

MP Reatile said unions are only interested in salary increments rather than the improvement of their employees’ working conditions, an issue which the MP for Serowe South Dr Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi echoed.

He called on the minister to closely monitor the company maintaining the Kanye-Jwaneng road saying the employees work during the night without wearing reflective clothes.

MP Moitoi said the unions are failing to adequately represent their members saying they have not advocated for Batswana to understudy expatriates.

She said where there are Batswana understudying foreigners, they do not recommend them to fill the posts hence the work and residence permits are renewed.

For his part, Gaborone Central MP Dr Phenyo Butale has called upon the minister to have a blue print on how he intends to address the skills mismatch in the country.

He said workers in the private sector are being ill-treated by their employees because the remedies provided by government are not working. ENDS