Resilience against negative connotations
Ryder Gabathuse | Monday March 27, 2023 06:00
MMEGI: Tell us about yourself. Who is Rari? Where do you come from and your beliefs?
RARI: I am TOBOKANI NICHOLAS RARI, the fifth born child of Rari Dichaba Madzipisa and Thamani Rari (nee Lungwane), born on 21st March 1969, and as such, Tuesday 21st this week, was my birthday. I have six siblings, three sisters and three brothers, which means that my mother and father had four boys and three girls. My father originates from Nshakazhogwe village in the northern Central District, about 60 Kms from Francistown towards Tutume. He was a subsistence farmer who, at some point, did work as a labourer for the Botswana Railways and his job entailed maintaining the railway line whenever it got damaged. He had no formal education, safe for life skills he acquired through practical life activities.
My mother on the other hand has never had any formal employment and only went up to primary level of education of those times, and as such, she remained just a housewife and an ardent subsistence farmer. My father passed on way back in 1976 when I was only seven years old and as such, I could say that I was raised by a single parent. My mother, though having not gone any further with her education, she was very particular about all her children attaining good education. She always wanted the best in terms of education for her children and never stopped emphasising that education is the wealth for children from poor backgrounds. Her words always reverberated in my ears, and as a consequence I have never wanted to disappoint her. I will never forget how my mother went out to work in other people’s farms to raise funds to take us to school. I owe my being and my little success in life to my mother who could have otherwise elected to withdraw us from school to go and look after cattle at the cattle post in view of how it was difficult for her to fend for us.
I believe in fairness and hard work. My value for fairness probably is what has necessitated me to pursue the line of advocating for the have nots, the less privileged and workers included. My trade union activism is necessitated by the need to see people being treated fairly. I believe that with hard work, those less privileged could permeate the social strata. I have seen hard work and perseverance from my mother.
MMEGI: Allow me to ask you this question: What does Tobokani mean? And your surname Rari... (What does it mean?) How have your two names affected your life?
RARI: Tobokani is Kalanga word that means Tlhobogang in Tswana and which translates to “Give Up” in English. I had made several attempts to try and inquire about what Rari means but I couldn’t get the meaning. They usually say a name has a bearing in the personality of an individual. However, in my case, while my name has some negative connotations of surrendering and giving up, it has never instilled that in me, if anything it has induced hard work in me to defy all odds.
MMEGI: Do you value family life? Are you married and how many children do you have? What are your children and wife doing for a living? Is any of your family members interested in what you are currently doing?
RARI: While my schedule is always tight and quite demanding hence limiting family time more so that union meetings are mainly held after hours and during weekends, yes I do have family. I am married to my beautiful and supportive wife, Keolebogile Jacqueline Rari; we have four (4) children, a 19-year-old boy, a 14-year-old girl, a 12-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl. The 14-year-old girl has always kept on inquiring about my job and had developed some interest on what it’s that I am doing. She might probably be developing some interest in advocacy. MMEGI: Now, tell me, as a young man growing up in your home village, Nshakazhogwe, what was your dream career? Would you say that you are living up to that career or you have deviated from your career path because of life?
RARI: I actually grew up in Nshakazhogwe as a child and as a young man. That’s where my father originated. I schooled at Nshakazhogwe Primary School up until I got admitted to Letlhakane Senior Secondary School to do my secondary education. My mother originates from Marapong. Some years after my father passed on, she then relocated with us from Nshakazhogwe to Marapong. When I was still a small boy and a young man later, schooling at primary school, I liked reading the Daily News. We would go around picking the Daily News and make collections and read during our spare times. As a young man while at secondary school, I developed interest in becoming a lawyer. Though I never really studied law, as I became a teacher, I would say I am currently living my dream as I became active in trade unionism and started to advocate the rights of workers and represent the workers.
MMEGI: Could you please share where you all started as a trade unionist? Who introduced you to trade unionism?
RARI: I was appointed as a teacher when I finished at college in 1996 at Itekeng Junior Secondary School in Gantsi. Upon arrival I realised a lot of injustice, which was meted out to teachers and school management in the school and in 1997. A year after joining service, I took the role of being a BOSETU school representative, what is now referred to as a shop steward. I was inspired by the fact that, at college, I was a member of the Student Representative Council (SRC). In 1998, then regional Chairperson of BOSETU in Gantsi region, Othusitse Othusitse, the current school head of Naledi Senior Secondary School, encouraged me to take over from him as he was now the school head of Gantsi Senior Secondary School at that time and I did. From 1998-2002, I was chairperson of BOSETU, Gantsi region; 2003-2005 – chairperson Maun region, in 2006, comrade Gaobotse Mokomane, now Chief Education Officer (North East region) encouraged me to campaign for additional member in the national executive committee. 2006-2008 – additional member in the national executive, 2008-2009 – national organising secretary, 2009-2011 – vice secretary-general, 2011 to date – secretary general.
MMEGI: How has your journey been as a trade unionist?
RARI: The journey has been quite exciting, challenging and in some instances quite frustrating. Exciting in that it’s the responsibility and duty that I like the most. It’s like I am living my dream and doing my hobby. Challenging in that it’s not easy to take decisions on behalf of multitudes of people. Sometimes one makes unpopular decisions, and this happens a lot during negotiations. Frustrating in that while you become an enemy of the powers that be (government) as they regard you as someone who is difficult and anti-establishment while fighting for the course of the workers. Some members of the organisation on the other hand would fight you as well in an attempt to topple you so that they get into the position you are occupying. I remember in 2012 when government wanted to recall us from secondment, secretary-generals of BOSETU (myself), BTU and BLLAWHU for what they said was uttering political sentiments. We took the case to court, and we won it. As I speak, there is a case before the courts where some members accuse me of altering the union constitution and being in office illegally. The union and myself won the case and the concerned members have gone for appeal. I sometimes get insulted on social media; my family gets insulted by those against me in the union and all this brings frustration.
MMEGI: In 2011, you were part of the trade unionists that went on a long strike popularly known as the ‘mother of all strikes’. As you reminisce about this strike, what do you think was achieved? What do you think would have been done better?
RARI: The strike was about a wage dispute. Of course, the demanded increment was not realised. However, I credit the 2011 strike for having raised awareness of labour rights on the working class. It has as well raised general political awareness in the population of Botswana. If you recall, the 2011 strike preceded the 2014 General Election and the 2014 General Election hold the highest record of the youth who turned out to vote in that poll. As trade unions we as well learnt that there is a dire need for us (unions) to have a strike fund. I think that could be used to keep workers going during a strike when the employer applies a no work no pay rule. What could have been done better is not to have a long continuous strike. It was obvious that fatigue crept in among workers as the strike elongated. Probably, the plan of an intermittent strike would have been better. I think also at some point, the strike got derailed and highjacked by partisan politics. We could have guarded against that.
MMEGI: You are also a prominent leader of BOSETU. Would you say your primary trade union is serving its members accordingly or what do you think are the challenges?
RARI: I think BOSETU as a union through various leaders who occupied leadership positions in the past, now has done tremendously well. BOSETU is one of the youngest trade unions in this country, having been formed in 1987 as BOFESETE at that time and it has grown by leaps and bounds to an extent it is now neck to neck in terms of membership with unions that were formed way back before independence. In BOSETU, we believe a trade union exists to represent members in their grievances at the workplace, protects the right of workers and agitates for the improvement of their conditions of service and that’s what we do best and that’s what we prioritise on. The magnitude of growth in our membership could point to only one thing, that BOSETU is serving members well in both representation and providing appropriate socio-economic facilities that are quite appealing to members.
MMEGI: You are considered one of the militant and radical trade unionists locally. Are you aware of these traits about yourself?
RARI: Surprisingly, I grew up a very reserved person and even today, I considered myself as very reserved. One thing that I am not able to do is socialise and able to make friends easily. Being in the crowd makes me shy and withdrawn. I am a very soft-spoken person outside any public platform and at home. My wife has always talked me appearing as two persons, at home being nice and soft-spoken and being aggressive on public platforms. However, I am aware that upon taking up a public platform I become more charged and aggressive especially when putting across people’s views and protecting their rights.
MMEGI: Could you share the story of BOSETU after it evolved from BOFESETE? It seems BOSETU is now a high flyer. What is attributable to the success story of your union?
RARI: BOSETU transformed from BOFESETE to BOSETU (Botswana Secondary School Teachers Union) in 2005, later in 2009, at a special congress in Goodhope, BOSETU, the Secondary School Teachers Union transformed into another BOSETU (Botswana Sectors of Educators Trade Union) whereat membership was now being opened to other sub-sectors of the education sector. BOSETU as alluded to elsewhere in this interview, is one of the youngest unions, but one of the fastest growing unions. This is attributable in my view to the philosophy of the union upon which it was formed and which luckily it has never departed from. The philosophy is anchored on specialising with protecting rights of members, representation of members and robust agitation and advocacy for the interest of members. We have also very well supplemented these core mandates and priority of the union with crafting appropriate and relevant socio-economic benefits for members. This has kept BOSETU relevant and a union of choice hence its continuous growth.
MMEGI: On a daily basis when you say you are going to work, what do you really do at the BOSETU office?
RARI: I attend to member grievances. I represent members in various labour relations platforms such as meetings with ministers; permanent secretaries and at bargaining platforms. I represent members and the union/federation in tripartite platforms such as the Labour Advisory Board. I represent members in other bodies like the pension fund.
MMEGI: How are BOSETU and BOFEPUSU members benefitting from the trade union/federation?
RARI: Besides representation, the union has socio-economic facilities such as the funeral scheme, the SACCOS, the micro lending, an insurance broker, and a funeral parlour. All these are provided at subsidised rates to members. The last congress resolved that they should be direct beneficiation for members and currently land is being acquired across the length and breadth of the country to then construct houses to be sold to members at below market prices.
MMEGI: How long have you been the secretary-general of both BOSETU and BOFEPUSU?
RARI: I am on my 14th year as SG for BOSETU and 11th as SG for the federation.
MMEGI: I know you were once challenged in court for your continued positions at both BOSETU and the federation and you won. Now, how long do you intend holding the two offices beyond now?
RARI: I am in discussion about that with my family and also members and those that I am in leadership with will guide me very soon on this issue.
MMEGI: Being a trade unionist often times is misconstrued to being anti-establishment. How have you been able to deal with such sentiments?
RARI: As I indicated elsewhere, I have faced a lot of hostility from those in government thinking that I am against the establishment to an extent that at some point government wanted to recall me from secondment. I have come to accept when you voice the views of those who have sent you, more often, the views would be viewed as yours. Though it frustrates as alluded to elsewhere in this interview, I have come to terms with that.
MMEGI: As a trained teacher you have been out of the classroom for decades now. Are you not missing the classroom?
RARI: Indeed, I am a teacher at heart, not only a teacher trained to work with students, but also a trained school counsellor and as a result I dearly miss the classroom more especially working with the students. It always soothes my soul when I meet responsible men and women and they would remind me that I have taught them at some point.
MMEGI: You have probably since moved on with other interests in life. What is your main preoccupation by now?
RARI: Now my main preoccupation is labour relations and the representation of the welfare of workers. I graduated in 2018 with a Masters degree in Industrial and Employment Relations from the ILO International Training Centre in Turin, Italy accredited by the University of Turin. I am currently pursuing my Doctorate in that regard as well.
MMEGI: Outside trade unionism, how do you pass time? Please just share other areas where you serve....
RARI: I am a board member of the following organisations; Mascom Wireless (Board Chairperson) DECI Pty Ltd, board member BPOPF, Board member PEUBO Investments, Board member Thusanyo Funeral Parlour, Board member SG, BOFEPUSU SG, BOSETU Member, Labour Advisory Board (LAB) Deputy chairperson of the National Bargaining Council Chief negotiator at the Bargaining Council
In my spare time, which I rarely get, I watch football; I am a fan of Township Rollers locally and Arsenal in the English Premier League.