21 Mar 2018

Mmathethe- Molapowabojang legislator,, Dr Alfred Madigele has urged the Ministry of Employment, Labour Productivity and Skills Development to come up with ways of making brigades more attractive to young people.

Dr Madigele expressed concern on Tuesday that many young people shunned enrolling in brigades as they preferred other training institutions. He was debating the ministry’s budget proposal for the 2018/19 financial year, which was tabled by Minister Tshenolo Mabeo in Parliament on Tuesday.

“There should be a paradigm shift to make people develop interest in brigades because, to create more jobs and reduce unemployment, we should focus on technical and vocational training which is offered by brigades,” said Dr Madigele.

He further urged the minister to liaise with the local industries in order to have the brigades produce industry-relevant graduates.

He also asked the ministry to replace old equipment in the brigades with modern machinery to improve the standard of training in brigades.

Minister Mabeo had proposed a total budget of over P711. 6 million for his ministry for the 2018/19 financial year, which comprised of over P679.4 millon in recurrent expenditure and P32.2 million in development estimates.

Debating the budget proposal, Gabane-Mmankgodi MP, Major General Pius Mokgware expressed concern about the time taken to resolve labour dispute.

He said the delay to resolve labour disputes in most cases had caused aggrieved employees to suffer.

MP for Okavango, Mr Bagalatia Arone asked for the review of labour laws to make them worker- friendly.

He said most of the laws were outdated and therefore a complete review was required to adopt a human rights approach to creating employment and promoting good labour relations.

He further complained about ill-treatment of workers in the tourism sector around the Delta area.

“When we talk about conditions of workers in the tourism sector, more especially in the delta, nothing is changing. There is racism in those areas. Batswana are treated like foreigners in their own country,” he said.

MP for Selebi Phikwe West, Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse said workers in the country faced myriad of challenges such as inadequate earnings, job insecurity, unsafe work environments, limited social security and ineffective dispute resolution mechanisms.

He urged the ministry to come up with ways of addressing those challenges faced by workers.

He called on government to introduce a living wage to address the issue of working poor in this country. ENDS