Motshegwa found guilty
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Thursday May 28, 2015 16:22
Motshegwa was facing two counts of misconduct and he appeared before a Francistown City Council (FCC) disciplinary hearing recently. There is a likelihood of him being dismissed from the public service. In reaching the guilty verdict, Robert Rabasimane who was chairing the disciplinary hearing said failure by the respondent (Motshegwa) to report for duty coupled with lack of agreement on extended secondment constituted continued absence from duty without authority.
“In addition, it is prudent that I determine whether the employee in casu, was aware of such an instruction. “Correspondence between parties point to the fact that, there was both direct and indirect communication with the employee and the union relating to same.
“In any case, the union vide its President agreed to the return from secondment and emphasised that to be with immediate effect,” said Rabasimane in a leaked judgment. “Therefore the respondent’s failure to respond for duty coupled with lack of agreement on extended secondment constituted continued absence from duty without authority.
“On this note alone I find the respondent guilty as charged. Similarly, on the count of refusal to obey lawful and reasonable instructions, he indicated to have examined and satisfied himself that indeed the instruction issued was both lawful and reasonable and that the employee failed to follow it and as such he is guilty as charged.
“Having said that, the chairperson indicated that the respondent would be given time to mitigate his circumstances if any, and that the complainant put forth his requests should there be any upon return from a ten (10) minutes break,” continued Rabasimane in his verdict.
The Botswana Federation of Public Sector Union (BOFEPUSU) secretary general, Tobokani Rari confirmed that Motshegwa was found guilty in all counts that he was facing. “They told us that they would recommend Public Service Management (DPSM) to dismiss him. We are waiting for their letter since they told us that they would write it within four days,” Rari said. He said they had engaged their attorneys to take the matter to court. Motshegwa’s case according to Rari, is expected to be registered this week. Attorney for BLLAHWU, Tshiamo Rantao had previously written to the DPSM boss Ruth Maphorisa to intervene on the matter.
“Our client requests that you intervene to protect the interests of the union and to stop clear and threadbare victimisation of the union representative,” the letter stated. In the letter Rantao said, “it is surprising and disturbing that the FCC persists with its acts of victimising a union activist when there exists a contractual right entitling him to secondment to serve BLLAHWU. The lawyer said BLLAHWU is concerned that the FCC continues to act as if there exists no recognition agreement between DPSM as the employer and BLLAHWU. The letter noted that Clause 9 of the agreement makes it mandatory for a BLLAHWU representative, in this case, Motshegwa to be seconded to the union. It also reminded the DPSM director of the decision of High Court judge, Justice Lot Moroka on the secondment of civil servants to work as union officials. The judgment came after DPSM tried to terminate the secondment of trade union secretary generals.