10 Oct 2023

Botswana Mine Workers Union (BMWU) will today petition Khoemacau Copper Mining management over poor condition of service and other staff welfare issues. 

Briefing the media on Monday, BMWU President, Mr Joseph Tsimako, said Khoemacau mine workers operated in dreadful conditions with little attention given to their welfare as employees were made to work 12 hours a day instead of the stipulated eight hours as per the Employment Act. 

He said it had become apparent that mining companies had made it mandatory for employees to work 12-hour shifts, which resulted in many unpaid overtime disputes. 

Mr Tsimako said working long hours impacted the health of many employees and also contributed to the disintegration of the family unit as well as some mental health complications due to curtailed liberties. 

He said BMWU had instituted proceedings against Khoemacau mine for affected employees to be paid overtimes as stipulated by Section 7 of the Employment Act. 

Mr Tsimako also decried the fixed term contracts that had become predominant in the mining sector, saying such were not beneficial to the employees particularly the lowest in the company employee structure. 

“Employees of fixed term contracts are deprived the liberty to access financial assistance from banks and micro lenders since they only have two-year contracts and are regarded as not credit worthy due to the short-term employment contracts,” he said. 

He said the fixed term contracts were also intended to weaken the trade union bargaining power since employees on fixed term contracts were reluctant to subscribe to trade unions. 

Further, Mr Tsimako indicated that the influx of expatriate workers at the expense of the locals was of concern, indicating that Khoemacau mine currently had over 120 expatriates, with the majority being semi-skilled or academically unqualified. 

“A lot of expatriates in mines are equipment operators who were deployed under the pretence to transfer skills to locals, but only for them to hold such position on permanent basis,” he said. 

Mr Tsimako also said there was a lot of disparities between the living conditions of expatriates and locals housed at the Khoemacau camps, highlighting that the Zone 5 camp, which was predominately occupied by expatriates, was more resourced compared to the Tuduka camp, which housed the locals. 

The poor sewage and drainage system at the Tuduka camp was making the place inhabitable, he said. 

Additionally, Mr Tsimako decried compromised safety standards at the mine, which he said, were not ISO compliant hence were not audited. 

“There is need for the establishment of a safety monitoring committee under the Ministry of Minerals and Energy, which will act as a regulator and monitor the safety standards across all mines,” he said. Ends