Staff sue Btv

CHANDAPIWA BAPUTAKI
Staff Writer | Tuesday December 21, 2010 00:00

 

For some time now Btv has been plagued by staff discontentment and allegations of maladministration, especially over the last three years. The staff has on a number of occasions complained to the station overseers - first at the then Ministry of Communications Science and Technology and then the Ministry of Presidential Affairs and Public Administration when Broadcasting Services transferred to the ministry. However, government had appeared to be reluctant or too slow to a on the staff complaints.

The urgent application on behalf of Jannie by the Botswana Public Employees Union (BOPEU), is expected to be filed today following a failure by the Director of Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM) Festina Bakwena to give an undertaking that she would not institute the redeployment made on Friday transferring the Btv Head of News to the Women's Affairs Department as Chief Gender Officer. The redeployment that was effected immediately comes in the face of another redeployment of the Head of Operations, Btv Senior Engineer Vuza Ziga as Chief Culture Officer to Ministry of Sports, Youth and Culture. The union then merged the two applications that is expected to be heard this Thursday.

BOPEU has instructed their lawyer Mboki Chilisa of Collins Legal Consultants to institute action before court to have the decision reviewed and set aside in 30 days while the matter is being resolved. In his affidavit, Chilisa argues that Jannie has no expertise and no training in the field of gender and women's affairs and mostly likely to be inefficient in his new post.  He informed Bakwena that Jannie is aggrieved by the decision because it was not preceded by any consultation. Chilisa further put it before Bakwena that the decision was also ultra versus the Public Service Act No. 30 of 2008 because she failed to have regard to the effectiveness and efficiency of the public service in making their decision.

He stated that the abuse is compounded by the fact that millions of pula spent training Jannie as a broadcaster would go to waste if he leaves the Department of Information and Broadcasting. Chilisa said no reasonable person could have made the decision that was taken given all the facts before them.

The union has also given the DPSM statutory notice with intention to challenge Badumedi Matsetse's redeployment to the public commercial radio station RB2 from Btv. According to the BOPEU President Andrew Motsamai, if DPSM fails to act in 30 days they will move to the court of law.