We will deport you for calling us �kaffirs� � Batshu
Boniface Keakabetse | Tuesday August 23, 2016 18:00
Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Edwin Batshu warned when addressing tourism workers in Maun today (Monday) that any foreign national who uses the F-word or kaffirs when addressing Batswana working in the tourism sector will be deported.
“We have received reports of Batswana working in the tourism sector in the Okavango who are called Kaffirs and referred to in F-words. Any expatriate found to be responsible for this will face a criminal charge and deportation,” he warned.
Batshu further explained that it is a crime under Botswana law for anyone to be called a kaffir or be addressed to by F-words.
Moreover, Batshu stated that there are some employees in the tourism sectors who are working in remote tourism camps who are denied a chance to access antiretroviral therapy (ARV). He stated that it is against Botswana law for citizens to be denied a chance to access ARVs or travel to Maun for appointments with doctors.
Some employers in the Okavango allegedly refuse their workers permission to fly from the remote camps in the delta for medical appointments in Maun.
A female tourism employee, who confirmed that she is working in tourism and enrolled under ARVs, revealed that she has been subjected to abuse because of her HIV status.
She revealed that some employees on ARVs end up losing their employment as they are denied a chance to access requisite treatment or travel for bookings. Some of the employees allegedly end up being laid off from work, as the employers complain that they spend a lot of time going for medical bookings.
Botswana Guides Association chairman, Kenson Kgaga noted that some sick employees spend a long time in the bush before their employers transport them to Maun for medical attention. Some employers, when a worker is sick, allegedly call a doctor in Maun by phone to ask what medicine they could be given instead of giving them sick leaves to fly to Maun.
Kgaga further complained about the stalled localisation of top management posts in the delta, which are dominated by foreigners, especially from South Africa. A lot of workers complained that many Batswana graduates and tourism professionals are facing unemployment while posts in the tourism sector are in the hands of expatriates. Batshu promised that his ministry would look in to the issue of localisation.
Councillor for Makgobokgobo, Luke Motlaleselelo complained during the meeting that workers in the tourism sector face deplorable working conditions. He said the safety at staff residences at remote camps is an issue of concern as workers are at the mercy of being injured let alone being killed by dangerous wild animals.
Motlaleselelo said following a past infamous incident where a worker was once killed by a lion at a workers’ residence in the bush, government instructed that all the companies should erect fences at staff residences to stop marauding wild animals. Motlaleselelo said, however, there are companies, which are not obeying this instruction thereby endangering the lives of their workers.
Motlaleselelo said recently some workers sleeping in a tent at Baines Camp in the delta escaped death by a whisker after an elephant, attracted by the smell of oranges inside their tent, forcibly pulled it while the workers were inside, injuring one of them.