Motsamai doesn�t regret corporatising BOPEU
Monkagedi Gaothobogwe | Monday November 30, 2015 15:01
Despite having this posh office as the president of BOPEU, Motsamai’s 7:30am – 4:30pm job is at the Institute of Health Sciences (IHS), where he works as a laboratory technician.
In fact he has not been to his BOPEU office for a while due to the end of year examinations that kept him busy. Even as we sit down for this interview, phone calls from IHS keep coming in; and then a BOPEU legal officer pops in. He has not seen the president in a while, he says. Clutching files in his hand, the youthful lawyer quickly updates the BOPEU president about some on-going court cases while still on his feet. He hurries off, leaving Motsamai with a legal document to prepare replying affidavit before the next day.
Motsamai is a man with no time to spare. He looks at me and quips, “I hope we will be done in a few minutes,” But in those few minutes, he lists a few urgent matters he has to attend within 30 minutes.
He is busy ahead of the BOPEU congress that starts in Palapye today. It is no wonder this organisation’s dizzy heights of prosperity are envied by all. The union has ventured into banking, property, tourism, real estates, micro-finance, insurance, and education, among their long list of money-spinners.
But Motsamai says the hostile relations that emerged between government and trade unions in the aftermath of the 2011 public service strike helped shape his union into establishing itself as the most powerful and the wealthiest trade union organisation in Botswana.
Motsamai recalls the history changing events that he says could have led to the collapse of the his organisation, had they not learnt to swim fast.
When government unleashed its wrath on the trade unions, Andrew Motsamai was the first to be hit when he was recalled from his secondment to BOFEPUSU where he had been a full time secretary general.
More wrath was to follow as government announced that it was withdrawing all secondments, discontinuing loan deductions for trade unions, the privilege of transporting trade union members to congresses and withdrawing provision of office spaces. All government assistance to unions was to be renegotiated. The list goes on.
Although the trade unions did challenge the government decisions, they won some and lost some.
Motsamai says he was motivated by the words of the High Court judge handling the case at the time, Justice Lot Moroka when he ruled that trade unions should find alternative means of raising funds and reduce dependence on government, which could compromise their mandate.
“BOPEU has never looked back, we corporatised. We established a robust investment arm, Babereki Investments, which has continued to embark on viable and profitable ventures, thanks to its leadership. It is the prudent management of resources and investments that enable BOPEU to embark on its core mandate without compromising our integrity because we are fully independent and resourced”.
Motsamai says his movement continues to grow in leaps and bounds. From a respectable 15, 000 members in 2007, Motsamai’s trade union, with a more than 100 percent growth, boasts of a strong 31, 000 membership to date and counting.
He says the multitudes cannot lie.“The reason for our growth is simply because BOPEU put the interests of their members, the workers, at heart and we fearlessly and fiercely defend them,” he said.
Motsamai says BOPEU is not only concerned about salary increases for their members from government, but also continually look for opportunities for economic empowerment and social upliftment for their members.
“Our strategy of using our collective numbers to leverage on the capitalist business to demand discounts for the masses is seen as counter revolutionary by some. Whatever loans, insurance policies, electronic gadgets and or devices availed to members, as long as obtained through our collective arrangements would have to be cheaper than what obtains in the market. The captive market we create for the business as organised labour should be used in the long run as a strong weapon to demand quality service, discounted services and above all responsible trading”.
Motsamai’s union boasts of a P120 million turnover, and has investments in tourism and hospitality. Khawa Lodge in Gantsi was acquired for slightly more than P7 million and would be refurbished and leased to the Cresta group. Three tourism investments have been acquired in Maun and Kasane.
A fortnight ago, a P225 million housing project for BOPEU members was launched by president Motsamai and his executive committee. The gated home will see BOPEU members acquiring homes at twice, and sometimes three times, below the market price. Members’ loans are re-paid at a below the market rate of 2.5 percent. Recently, BOPEU secured a P200 million facility that enables the union to borrow a member up to P30 000, according to publicity secretary Emmanuel Tlale.
As BOPEU celebrate monumental growth in membership and assets, they also issue bursaries to members to improve their career skills through the Bursaries Fund, which has become a hit with BOPEU membership. No doubt Motsamai’s highlights of his leadership achievement has been the establishment of a Labour College, a development that sees BOPEU being the first trade union to invest in education
The BOPEU Labour College is now up and running and is led by respected labour movement expert Edward Tswaipe. “BOPEU’s labour college” is no longer a proverbial pipe in the sky. Today we are the proud owners of such college; Comrade Tswaipe has brought a lot of goodwill to the new college. He was recently appointed as the online tutor for the ILO Global Labour College focusing on African students south of equator, and we are very proud of that.
“Through the Labour College, we intend to continue to grow the capacity of our members to be competitive in the labour market. The BOPEU Labour College already provides the Botswana Qualifications Authority (“BQA”) accredited courses. Our hope is to see the college growing and becoming a centre of excellence with top quality instructors to provide quality education within the region”.
Venturing into Banking
BOPEU has also moved forward to establish a cooperative savings bank for their membership. Motsamai says the idea of a cooperative savings bank has been stalling for sometime now in Botswana. “We were constantly reminded that, such a dream amounted to stretching credulity beyond breaking point, and rightly so because, in a period of close to 50 years of independence, our beloved country has not been able to produce a single indigenous bank”.
“SACCOS is in itself a noble idea aimed at encouraging our members to invest their monies in a bid to create wealth for themselves.
This time around, we intend to focus aggressively on improving a culture of savings amongst members. As a union we are alive to the reality that in this day and age, true freedom exists only where there is financial freedom”, reasons Motsamai.
SACCOS will be officially launched today at the BOPEI Congress in Palapye. BOPEU has set aside P10 million to gift to the first 10 000 members who join the initiative. It will see each member being awarded P1000 by BOPEU into their savings account.