09 Aug 2017

Government has taken the decision to back-pay some members of Botswana Federation of Public Employees Union (BOFEPUSU) the three per cent salary increase for financial year 2016/17 which the union initially had declined to accept.

This was revealed by Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) secretary general, Mr Mpho Balopi during the BDP monthly press briefing on August 8 in Gaborone.

He said it was a sign of a caring government that was committed to the welfare of its workers.

He said the government was always going to ensure that it bridged the gap which existed between the workers, and added that it was surprising that immediately after taking the decision, BOFEPUSU hastily wrote a letter to the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM), urging it to fast-track the payments.

He said BOFEPUSU wanted to take credit for the development while it had indicated that it was pulling out of the bargaining council and had no any further business with government as far as salary issues were concerned.

Mr Balopi explained that the idea to back-pay some government employees came as a motion from the floor during the recent BDP elective congress in Tonota.

He said the motion was adopted and passed to cabinet for consideration.

Meanwhile, he said the party has received names of both parliamentary and council aspiring candidates for the 2019 general elections in all the 19 opposition held constituencies, and that they were vetting names until August 18 when the final list would be made available to the media.

On another issue, Mr Balopi said they have invited the African National Congress (ANC) to their 55th anniversary celebrations later this month in Serowe.

He said the party deserved to celebrate the milestone and saw the need to invite the ANC whom they have strong relations which dated back to the era of apartheid.

He said the central committee would go on a retreat to look into issues of reforms to align the party with challenges of the 21st century and make more progressive.

For his part, the deputy secretary general, who is also Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Mr Shaw Kgathi said most of the laws and policies were a result of motions and resolutions adopted during the party congresses, and that people should know about them. ENDS