02 May 2019

Maun principal magistrate, Mr Mmoloki Sibanda has underscored the need for government and unions to cultivate a strong and healthy relationship in order to build a better Botswana.

He said over the years, the relationship had been broken and needed both parties to come on board to strengthen it.

Mr Sibanda, who was speaking during May Day celebration in Maun, said workers were the developers of the country as they had the skill and social contract with government. For that reason, he said there was need for the government to provide the basic necessities and protect them.

On the other hand, Mr Sibanda noted that workers had to provide quality service and do all what they were required to do in the public service.

Also, he observed that workers had a strong relationship with the employer.

In every relationship, he said parties should respect each other, communicate well and act in good faith.

Mr Sibanda revealed courts of law was laden with cases involving the employer, employees and unions, which  come at the expense of the taxpayers. Government uses tax payers’ money in these cases while on the other hand unions also use workers money to pay lawyers, he stated.

“That means as workers you are suffering twice as you are also tax payers. Let us appreciate that we have courts, laws and processes that govern the labour force,” he explained.

Since the formation of Public Service Act, Mr Sibanda observed that bargaining council had never met, hence the relationship between government and unions has been broken to the detrimental of the employed. Mostly affected, he said were graduates as they had low salaries while unemployment continued to be the order of the day.

Mr Sibanda noted that it was the responsibility of unions to fight for workers’ rights, but it appeared like most of the time they fought for power and control.

He urged unions to stop the in fighting and factions, but execute their mandate. The unions, he said should be the agents of workers and offer something that their members could be proud of.

Mr Sibanda stressed the need for unions to better their membership before they could make demands, adding that they should put their house in order.
North West District commissioner, Mr Keolopile Leipego concurred that unions had to introspect and guard against all that could bring division and conflicts among them.

He said they should also join the government in the fight for a corrupt-free country and stop fighting for positions, forgetting their responsibilities in the process.

He also called on employees to do a self-introspection, noting that there was an outcry about poor service delivery.

“Batswana are increasingly getting angry because they complain that you are not adhering to service standards. I urge you to improve service delivery and livelihoods of the communities,” he added.

Mr Leipego said they should make sure the community was satisfied by adhering to work ethics all the time. ENDS