The state of the nation - a response (Part I)

| Friday November 26, 2010 00:00

The significance of the state of nation address is that it presents an opportunity for the President of the Republic to speak across party lines to the nation and the world highlighting challenges facing the nation and presenting policy initiatives by the government of the day of how to tackle such challenges.

Before delving into the speech, let me congratulate the Leader of Opposition, Honourable  Botsalo Ntuane, for eloquently presenting a thought-provoking response to the state of the nation address on behalf of the Opposition.  I say well done 'Bots' for a very good speech.  I also wish to commend the leader of the Botswana National Front, Comrade Duma Boko, for giving a similar response to the state of the nation address during the press conference held on Tuesday November 9, 2010 at Oasis Motel.

As to be expected, the press conference was characterised by the absence of the Government media particularly Btv in its usual style who boycotted that press conference.  I wish to thank the private media for their continued resolve to give an unbiased coverage of events of the different political parties in Botswana.

Miss World PageantI also wish to join the chorus of colleagues and indeed His Excellency the President in congratulating Miss Emma Wareus for scooping the position of first Princess of Miss World.  I say to Emma! Congratulations and well done. 

You have joined and added your name to the list of talented young Batswana that excelled in the international arena to put Botswana in the world map such as bomme Mpule Kwelagobe (former Miss Universe) who are now our national icons.

I wish to extend my gratitude to Botswana Council of Women who are the Miss World licence holder.  I am fully cognisant of the challenges BCW faces in training and grooming Botswana beauty pageants to Miss World. 

Sponsorship is one of the many challenges BCW faces because these beauties need resources to compete.

The names of former Miss Botswana pageants who represented Botswana at Miss World such as

* Tshegafatso Robi* Sonia Marope* Lorato Tebogo* Malebogo Marumoagae

come to my mind.  I wish to congratulate the National Director of Miss World, namely Miss Daisy Botsoba who comes from the small village of Sojwe in Kweneng District, who mentored, trained and groomed these Botswana beauty pageants.  It is my well-considered opinion that the name of Miss Daisy Botsoba be also held in high esteem alongside that of Miss Emma Wareus.  After so many attempts under trying conditions, she made it. 

I say well done to Daisy Botsoba because I have noted that various media houses and fellow MPs only commend the First Princess of Miss World without commending the Miss Botswana National Director in the name, Miss Daisy Botsoba who volunteered her services to train Botswana beauty pageants.  I remember her live televised statement during the event before Miss World 2010 was crowned; declaring that all that I am waiting for is the crown and she ultimately got it.

This state of the nation address comes against the backdrop of ever-increasing poverty, ever-increasing unemployment and the growing inequalities between the rich and the poor, corruption and rising crime as admitted by His Excellency in paragraph 19 of his speech, which quotes 'strict adherence to the rule of law places great burden on the Judiciary, whose challenge is to meet the demands of an increasingly litigious society as well as cope with rising criminal case loads'. Opposition CooperationThe Botswana National Front has experienced that vote splitting between opposition parties has helped the BDP cling to power longer than it was necessary and hurt the opposition.  BNF has throughout the history of Botswana politics pioneered the notion of opposition unity and cooperation albeit little success.

The BNF has learned, understood and appreciates that the current political TREND within the nation of Botswana that opposition parties must UNITE AND COOPERATE end the one party dominant rule of the BDP occasioned in this country for more than four decades. 

Any opposition party, opposing opposition cooperation is sailing against this political tide, and would be swept aside and be relegated to political oblivion and history would judge such a party(s) harshly.

BNF views Parliament as the first anchor point of genuine and sincere opposition cooperation.  BNF MPs have been mandated to cooperate fully with MPs of other opposition parties in this Parliament as prelude to the oncoming opposition cooperation talks.

GovernanceI entirely agree with sentiments of His Excellency the President that constitution has been our supreme law for nearly half the century.  The Constitution of Botswana gives the state President's sweeping executive powers.  

Section 47 (3) of the Botswana constitution states that the executive powers of Botswana shall vest in the President, (who shall) act in his own deliberate judgment and shall not be obliged to follow the advice tendered by any other person or authority.

The concentration of executive powers in a President, especially unelected President contravenes the general notion of democracy.  Even neighbouring countries such as South Africa, Angola, Namibia, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe subjects the president to the popular will and judgment of the people.  The BNF advocates for comprehensive republican constitutional review amongst other things have the state president a product of electoral due process because under the one adopted from the former colonial master, only cosmetic and piece meal constitutional amendments have taken place.

Other issues warranting constitutional amendments are such as to

* Determine if MPs term during the life of Parliament is 57 months up to dissolution of Parliament or 60 months as the nation is made to understand.

* Entrench supremacy of Parliament over Executive to ensuring the Executive is truly accountable to Parliament.

* Define clearly the separation of powers so that no one organ of Government is superior over the other and delinking Parliament as a department of the Office of the President.

* The immunity of Dikgosi, MPs, and Councillors whilst carrying their function.

Political Party FundsThe BNF and other opposition parties advocate for state political party funding because lack of it leaves the country open to corruption and bribery by secret donors and organisations. 

Secret funding of any political party by anonymous organisations constitutes and presents clear danger to national security and interests. A political Party that receives secret funding from secret groups can only be accountable to those groups with secret and sinister agenda for Botswana.

The BNF advocates for the creation of state fund to finance and support political parties to ensure fairness, accountability, and transparency during elections and it calls upon Government to establish such a fund without any due delay.  If established such a fund will be administered independently by IEC, and all parties will account for the use of these funds to IEC and their books would be subject to audit by the Auditor General.  Any private funding to political parties shall be made public with full details of such private donors under the law established for regulating political party funding.

The Central Kgalagadi Game Reserve (CKGR)As opposition  we  can  no longer remain  in blissful silence when the  fundamental  human rights of  our fellow citizens are  undermined with alacrity and  insensitivity.   The CKGR issue has been raging long before the Court Ruling of December 13 2006.  We subscribe to Article 25  of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which  recognises the right of  all  people  to a decent  standard  of living and  the provision of social  services  adequate for their health and wellbeing.  People of CKGR needs water.   'If your enemy is hungry, feed him, if he is thirsty, give him a drink, for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.'  We in the opposition there call upon His Excellency the President to comply with this humanitarian clarion call of Roman 12 and oblige.  Please give the people of Kgalagadi Game Reserve.  Please comply with provisions of Wildlife Management Draft Plan No. 2 and residents of CKGR to coexist with their wildlife within the Game Reserve because they know how to preserve their wildlife.  They know how to preserve wildlife and can distinguish between a pregnant one and save it.  Please allow them to equip their borehole at Motlhomelo.

Botswana cannot win the war against the body of world opinion in the way it treats the people of CKGR.  The war against Survival International will keep on prolonging.  I am told Union Nations sent Professor James Anyar (renowned indigenous people expert) to study the problem of CKGR and he produced a damning report against Botswana.  How long are we going to keep spin-doctoring at the expense of public purse?

Botswana Examination Council versus BOSETUIt must be understood by members of the public that prior to the existence and operation of Botswana Examination Council (BEC), before 2005, the conduct of the examinations in Botswana was the mandate of Examinations, Research and Testing Division (ERTD) of the Ministry of Education and Skills Development.  During this time teachers were used to carry out the mandate of the division, which included activities related to external examinations such as

* setting invigilation,* standardisation,* course work assignment,* marking* moderation as they relate to external examinations.

Teachers undertook these services under the mandate of ERTD without remuneration except nominal fee for marking.  Even then, the rates for marking were very low and the conditions of work were very deplorable.

During this time, BOSETU vigorously advocated for better working conditions to teachers whose services were being outsourced to ERTD.  Due to the fact ERTD was a division within the Ministry of Education, teachers compromised on its demands because ERTD was not a separate and autonomous division from the Ministry of Education who was the employing authority of Teachers.

During 2002, however, Parliament of Botswana decided to separate the issues of pedagogy from issues of testing and examination and created Botswana Examination Council to manage the conduct of external examinations.

BEC therefore became an entity on its own, which enjoys autonomy and resources to run its affairs.   When the activities of BEC commenced in earnest, BOSETU indicated to the BEC and the then employer of Teachers i.e. Teaching Service Management (TSM) that teacher can no longer continue to perform the duties that have been ceded to a separate body.  This view was informed by the fact that BEC was an entity on its own created by the Act of Parliament.

Dispute Between BEC And BOSETUThe Act empowers BEC to have its own budget and to recruit its own personnel.  On the other hand, BOSETU appreciated the fact that BEC needs the expertise and services of teachers and as such has never been averse to the idea of teachers being engaged by BEC as long as they are contracted.

BEC on the other hand wanted to use teachers to fulfill their mandate without remunerating them, except in marking services where they have been given meagre payments.

BOSETU Wins Court CaseBOSETU went to court during 2009 on the dispute between teachers and BEC which could not be resolved related to Directive No. 3 of 2009, which forced the teachers to invigilation of examinations and won the case.  The Court ruled that the invigilation, and supervision of examinations does not fall within the ambit of the duties of teachers and the teacher cannot be compelled to invigilate or supervise external national examinations.

TSM and BEC wanted to use teachers to invigilate and supervise external examinations without remuneration in spite of the fact that the BOSETU had raised a query on several occasions that invigilation does not fall within the purview of teachers duties.

The Facts To The DisputeBOSETU wants to be involved in negotiating for rates of payment and conditions of service for teachers used by BEC in any of its activities while on the other hand BEC wants to be the sole decider of the conditions of services for teachers they engage.  BEC contends that teachers are not employees of BEC.  They are hired as temporary and casual labourers; hence they cannot be represented by their unions as far as negotiations are concerned.

BOSETU recognises the fact that teachers are not employees of BEC, but are unionised to BOSETU and previous employer TSM recognised BOSETU, but BEC is not willing to recognise it as the legitimate body that negotiates teacher's conditions of service.  BEC only wants to consult, but not negotiate with the union.After the case, a meeting between the teachers union, the ministry and BEC agreed to negotiate the rates of invigilation for the year 2009

It was agreed that teachers should be contracted to BEC and be paid a negotiated amount of P28 from the original proposed negotiation figure of P157. The meeting further agreed that in future, tripartite parties would move in the way of memorandum of agreement to encompass all areas that BEC uses teachers on.  Article 5 of the agreement spelt out the agreement was interim.

The 2010 negotiationsIn February 2010, the two teachers unions wrote the Ministry of Education showing interest that the tripartite parties should pursue article 3 and 5 of the agreement.   The Ministry did not respond until July 2010, despite numerous reminders from the unions.  During the June meeting, the two teachers unions and BEC were assigned to come up with proposed drafts memoranda to be considered at the next gathering of the tripartite parties.

On September 6th, 2010 the Ministry of Education and BEC pulled out of the talks because they were no longer interested and the talks collapsed.

Mabiletsa is MP for Kgatleng West.