BGI employees 'report' management to Kenewendo

Innocent Selatlhwa | Wednesday September 3, 2025 10:11

The employees want the minister to intervene as they decry that management has withheld funds meant for their salary increment, amongst other issues.

Led by BOPEU/BGI Branch Executive Chairperson Kagiso Gakale, the employees marched to the District Commissioner’s office, where they read out the petition before handing it over.

In the said petition, the employees state that it had come to their attention through official engagements with BGI management that the Ministry of Minerals and Energy, as the main sponsor of BGI, had approved and disbursed a five per cent budget to BGI for employee annual salary increments.

“It is very sad to have to inform your honourable office that BGI management has bluntly denied us this right and is withholding these funds for reasons only known to them until such a time that they will see fit to pay. This is not the first time that this has happened, as over the years, when other ministry-sponsored entities benefited from this compassion from the ministry, BGI employees were denied the same and, in some instances, received only half of what was approved and sometimes even nothing, even though the ministry had approved such,' they stated.

The employees have since called on the ministry to reconcile all approved disbursements for BGI employee salary increments and instruct the Chief Executive Officer to effect payment of arrears owed to employees. They are also appealing to the ministry to instruct BGI management to immediately release the approved five per cent salary increase payments and arrears due to employees, effective April 2025.

“We call on your office to ensure that accountable people are held accountable. This action by BGI management has a long-term effect on employee livelihoods as it not only affects our current purchasing power but also negatively affects our pension income after retirement. BGI employees are parents and caretakers of unemployed extended families, and this also extends to our dependents,” they wrote.

The employees also bemoan what they term as discretionary and discriminatory recruitment and progression. They state that most employees at BGI have remained in the same band and notch from the inception of BGI, dating as far back as June 2017 and only receive an increase in salary in instances when BGI decides to effect the increments approved by the ministry.

“Certain individuals, on the other hand, are appointed today and are already at the top notch with allowances that their more experienced counterparts do not enjoy. These are not positions that require any scarce skill, as qualified Batswana of the same calibre and in some instances of superior qualifications and experience are found abundantly in the market. Recruitments and appointments of some employees are not through laid down BGI policies, and we can only suspect favours to undeserving friends and family members of appointing officers,” they wrote. Some of the officers appointed via suspicious methods occupy very sensitive positions that require specialised knowledge and experience, and this could compromise national security.

The employees also call on the minister to ensure the implementation of the approved BGI pay structure and ensure arrears are paid to deserving employees for non-compliance to the approved structure.

The aggrieved employees further decried that BGI's permanent and pensionable staff members did not have a structured pension fund from 2017 to 2022. “This was contrary to employee contracts, and the ministry had made funds available to BGI management to ensure that eligible employees had a pension fund. The management of BGI decided to purchase individual insurance policies for employees with the funds approved and allocated to purchase employee structured pension, and this is a clear case of misappropriation of government funds,” they stated.

BGI has employed former employees who were formerly employed by the Department of Geological Survey (DGS), which was dissolved following the enactment of the BGI Act. The employees were retrenched from the central government following the abolition of offices by the ministry as per the Public Service Act of 2008 and the General Orders. The employees want early exit packages.

“The ministry implemented the Early Exit Policy of 2008 during the restructuring exercise, and it is clear what the entitlements of the above employees were, and one of the entitlements is separation pay, which the Ministry denied these officers. We request that the minister sanction the implementation of the Early Exit Policy and settle these employees with their entitlement of separation allowance. Please refer to the legal Opinion from Advocate Duma Boko shared with your esteemed office, which supports and explains our position in detail and even calls for payment to the victimised employees forthwith with related arrears,” they wrote.

Efforts to get a comment from management proved futile by press time.