The decision follows an out-of-court settlement between the attorneys representing both parties. Fortune Mokoma, standing in for Lerumo Mogobe Attorneys represented Botswana Mining Workers Union (BMWU) while Sipho Ziga appeared for Debswana.
Ziga told Mmegi that the dismissed employees agreed to move out on their own.
“We did not force them to move. We filed the case three weeks back because they were refusing to vacate. They continued to ignore the notices that they were given and they requested to be given 14 days to vacate,” Ziga said.
Orapa Debswana employee relations officer, Richard Vaka said that the case was not about dismissals. It was targeting those who refused to vacate company houses.
“After their dismissals, they no longer enjoy the benefits of being an employee and one of those benefits is the subsidised housing and utilities.” Vaka said that the dismissed employees have the right to take the matter to the Industrial Court if they feel aggrieved.
He told Mmegi that out of the 491 employees who have been dismissed, 76 from Orapa and about 16 from Jwaneng are still not ready to vacate company houses. They have ignored quit notices since August last year when they were dismissed.
However, the employees have said that they are not impressed with how the management dealt with their case.
“We are not happy about the way our employer has reacted to the dismissals. The management is unfair and untrustworthy, judging by the way they victimised us while there were many of us involved in that strike. This is pure oppression and abuse at its worst,” said Gasegake Garebatho.
She told Mmegi that the Debswana management is using its power and money to trample upon the rights of workers. Another dismissed worker, Zibani Bahayesi said that the management has failed to sit down and talk about their grievances.
“We wrote six letters to them before the strike and they never responded. They told us that they will not talk to us and now that we have been unfairly dismissed, they do not bother to come and address us,” Bahayesi said.
The employees said that they still consider themselves Debswana employees. This is because when they search for jobs elsewhere, they are told Debswana has issued instructions that they must not be employed unless they clear first with the company.
