Gov�t must save BCL jobs
Correspondent | Wednesday April 20, 2016 14:59
This comes after it was reported that nationally there has been a decline in the total number of employed by 2%. Selebi-Phikwe has in the last Census noted a decline in population growth as a result of decline in opportunities in the town.
This is also happening at a time when the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) government has come up with an Economic Stimulus Package (ESP) which it says aims to create employment and boost economic growth.
The company is experiencing big losses because of drop in commodity prices. It is anticipated that the prices will improve towards the close of the year.
The retrenchments are said to be a move by the management to reduce the wage-bill during this period when the copper/nickel prices have plummeted. The company has gone through such a bad patch before, but there was no job shedding. This was happening when the government was not the sole owner unlike now.
It is well known that metal prices are cyclical hence are expected to bounce back. Logic suggests that the government will, particularly through the companies that it owns, ensure no job losses.
The jobs that are at BCL and Tati Nickel are long-term while those that are at envisaged under ESP are short-term. Selebi Phikwe has over the years yearned for government support to ensure sustenance and diversification of the economy away from mining. The efforts by Spedu will be in vain if government through its company, BCL, proceeds with plans to retrench.
We have noted criticism of the BCL mine management for some of its decisions. While we hold no brief for the mine and would not say they are not partly to blame, our position is that most of the blame should go to the shareholder, the BDP government.
As a 100% shareholder, the BDP government cannot absolve itself from any blame otherwise it will be a careless shareholder.
Government should put money into the BCL mine to cover part of its wage bill to save jobs until the copper/nickel prices bounce back. This will show that the government is serious about ensuring that Batswana have jobs.
You cannot retrench on one hand and then claim that you are committed to creating jobs through ESP. It is BCL which should benefit from ESP. The projects that are under ESP create temporary jobs. The impact of this retrenchment exercise is going to be huge and will have long-term socio-economic repercussions.
Moeti Mohwasa
UDC head of communications