BOPEU to boycott May Day celebrations again
Oarabile Mosikare | Thursday April 23, 2015 19:00
“We have a tradition at BOPEU that every year we give all the branches money to organise their celebrations.
The leadership does not dictate how they celebrate the May Day,” he said. He said if some branches want to celebrate the day under the auspices of BOFEPUSU, they are free to do so. He professed ignorance of this year’s May Day theme.
Despite Marenga’s denials, Mmegi is reliably informed that BOPEU is preparing its own Labour Day celebrations separate from BOFEPUSU or its other affiliates.
Other affiliates of BOFEPUSU are National Amalgamated Local and Central Government Workers Union (NALCGWU), the Botswana Land Boards, the Local Authorities and Health Workers’ Union (BLLAHWU), the Botswana Teachers Union (BTU) and the Botswana Sectors of Educators Trade Union (BOSETU). Last year, BOPEU boycotted May Day celebrations over the choice of the theme that they claimed had political connotations.
The union was irked by the theme of ‘Unleashing a Progressive Labour Agenda through Regime Change,’ which was later changed to ‘Unleashing a Progressive Labour Agenda,’ after it expressed its misgivings.
The polarisation did not stop there. The relationship between the two was strained further when BOPEU termed the BOFEPUSU elective congress held early this year as unconstitutional.
Reports say that last weekend, the BOPEU executive committee met with the regional leadership in Mogoditshane to discuss May Day celebrations.
The regions were apparently instructed to celebrate the day separately from BOPFEUSU.
“However, reports from the regions indicate that most of BOPEU regions are defying the union. In Kgatleng, Barolong, Lobatse and Francistown, BOPEU structures have vowed to go ahead and celebrate with the mother federation,” a source said.
BOFEPUSU secretary general, Tobokani Rari has said he is not aware that BOPEU is planning its own Labour Day celebrations.
“If that is true, we would have expected them to engage the federation leadership about their stance so that we could dialogue about it,” said Rari.
Meanwhile, BOFEPUSU would celebrate this year’s Labour Day under the theme ‘Striving for the Dignity and Worth of the Working Class in Botswana’.
There will be celebrations at the branches while the main event would be held in Francistown. A pre-May Day symposium will be held in Francistown on April 30.