BOSETU is non-aligned � Rari

Ryder Gabathuse | Friday August 29, 2014 15:38

 

He told Mmegi in an interview that BOSETU all along has maintained that they are not aligned to any political party in particular.  So, as a trade union, they prefer to leave the democratic process of who to elect open-ended and for now it remains the choice of individual members.

“The union’s position has been that members should vote in favour of politicians who have the welfare and interest of the workers at heart,” he said.

At this juncture, he could not specifically state which political organisations fitted the description of their ideal choice of a political party.

“That has always been our choice and we deliberately distanced our union from being immersed in partisan politics,” stressed Rari.

He said the just-ended BOSETU 10th elective congress this week, did not pinpoint any one politician that they will vote for. He however, explained that the choice as to which party to vote for remains the prerogative of the Botswana Federation of Public Sector Unions (BOFEPUSU) which they are affiliated to. He could not disclose when such a decision will be made, but certainly at some stage before the general elections billed for October, 24,  a decision will be taken as the country marches to the polls.

“The issue on partisan politics was not debated by the BOSETU congress either.

“However, there was a sort of a discussion that people should go and elect leaders of their choice,” said Rari  who this week was given another three years in office.

As to why BOSETU had invited political parties partaking in the October general elections at their congress, he explained that the idea was that congress delegates had to have a feel of the parties.

“The political parties had to articulate the issues of teacher organisations and/or labour issues as to how they (parties) will tackle them once given power,” he said. He added that the whole notion was to give unionists an opportunity to make informed choices.

Rari said that although no definite position was taken as to which political party to vote for, delegates to the congress had shown their readiness to cast their votes.

“There was a lot of interest and enthusiasm that people want to go and cast their ballots during the elections,” noted Rari. He was also elated that in the union’s endeavour to enhance democracy, they have partnered with a private radio station, Gabz FM to air the debates of parliamentary candidates across the 57 constituencies.

The idea, he said is to enable their members and the public in general to make informed choices of their ideal candidates.