BMWU transformation gains momentum
Chakalisa Dube | Monday July 11, 2022 06:00
Tsimako ascended as the helmsman of the union in 2019 and immediately made a commitment that his executive would focus more on transforming the union into a likeable entity.
Tsimako and members of his executive will complete their term in November next year. When he took over, he pointed out that the union would focus on resuscitating its relationship with other trade movements both in Africa and beyond.
Tsimako’s executive also promised to focus more on capacity building of the union leadership at all levels and making the union more visibly in the media. His other promise was to strengthen BMWU’s investment arm ‘BadiraKhumo’. “I am very happy with the execution of the union’s transformation agenda,” he said this week in an interview.
The union’s transformation agenda was partly negatively affected by COVID-19. Tsimako said lately the union has been rolling out capacity building workshops around the country to train its membership on areas such as leadership and corporate governance. He added that members are also trained on contemporary trade union dynamics.
He explained that the union is planning more capacity building initiatives. “We continue to engage donors internationally to support our capacity building activities. We are very optimistic that they will soon give us positive feedback. IndustriALL, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and Solidarity Centre are some of the few donors who have assisted us in the recent past and we will continue approaching them for more support. The Women’s Committee is one of the beneficiaries of these donors. IndustriALL has pledged to support the training of our shop stewards and other structures as per the training programme the education committee will design,” he said.
He added that capacity building is part of boosting the union’s succession plan. The union is also exploring a partnership with the Institute Development Management (IDM). Should the partnership succeed, the union members will be able to study at the institution at relatively subsidised fees. The institution will also support some of the union’s capacity building initiatives.
A few years ago, there were concerns that the union’s succession plan is obstructed by lack of skill among its members. On other matters, he stated that the BMWU has responded to concerns by its members that it does not offer them enough benefits to improve their lives. “As the leadership we agree with them (members) that the union should put welfare measures in place for them.
That is why we recently launched a partnership with Genius Families. The partnership with Genius will include borehole and drilling services for members as well as funeral schemes (insurance). Members will also be assisted to acquire ploughing tractors using a scheme offered by Genius. We will continue exploring more opportunities for our members,” Tsimako said.
The mining sector is undergoing rapid operational changes the world over. Some of these changes often affect employees negatively and some eventually lead to retrenchments. Tsimako noted that the union is doing its best to ensure that it is not left behind. “We have roped in IDM to assist us to draw a five-year strategy. The strategy will be completed later this year.
The aim of the strategy will be to ensure that the union keeps up with dynamics in the mining industry. We do not want to be left behind as a trade union,” he said. He said he is very impressed with the way the union has been tackling various issues affecting its members. Apart from being vocal in the media and various platforms, he says the union has handled various concerns relating to its members against their respective employers with tact and proactiveness. “Before we roped in an executive secretary, we were losing many cases involving our members and those directly involving the union. We approached them with a bit of tardiness. We were also not proactive on various issues affecting the workers. However, since we appointed an executive secretary with an extensive legal background, we have rarely lost cases.
The executive secretary has also played an important role in terms of implementing some of the union’s initiatives.” According to Tsimako, the union will soon increase its staff across the country to strengthen the implementation of some its initiatives and improve service delivery. BMWU has offices in Phikwe, Francistown, Orapa, Jwaneng and Sowa Town. Its membership is estimated to be around 8,000. “There is an indication that some mines will be reopening soon. It is important to recruit many staff members to ready for that development,” he explained.
Since 2019 the union has reached several key milestones including the repackaging of BadiraKhumo Investment Company (the union’s investment arm) and its governance structure. BadiraKhumo has five subsidiaries focusing in areas such as property and energy. “Engagements to consolidate the union’s investment efforts are ongoing. We are at an advanced stage of launching our fuel supplying company under our energy subsidiary called Leru Energy (Pty) Ltd. Proceeds from Leru will help us to fully establish our other subsidiaries.” The only challenge for Tsimako is that some members within the executive and lower structures are still reluctant to embrace the transformation agenda.
However, the union leader remains optimistic that with time members will start to fully to support the agenda. “I also have to admit that there is need to improve in terms of implementing union initiatives which are part of the transformation agenda.”