Safari companies stand accused?

BONIFACE KEAKABETSE
Correspondent | Friday November 26, 2010 00:00

Speaking in an interview, councillor for Khwai and Savuti, Kereeditse Ntshogotho, said yesterday that some safari companies prevent their employees from going for medical appointments for the period falling within the prescribed three months.

He said this became common after an arrangement between the Hotel and Tourism Association of Botswana (HATAB) and the Ministry of Health that all employees on ARVs are supplied with enough medication to last them the three months they spend in the bush.

While the employees are given enough medication for the period, some of them have to return to clinics for various medical appointments and checkups, which employers won't entertain.

He said some employees have had their salaries deducted for the period of absence while seeking medical attention and some are forced to pay for their air tickets from the inaccessible camps to the various medical centres in the region.

'When some of the employees from Khwai settlement working for Wilderness Safaris fall sick, the Wilderness staff drop them at Khwai, where there is no clinic, instead of transporting them for medical attention in Maun. The employees are then left at the mercy of the Khwai Development Trust to transport them to Maun.' 

Ntshogotho said the situation demands immediate attention as this may discourage employees from going for appointments for fear of having their wages cut. He said if the situation is allowed to continue it will be a setback in the country's struggle against the AIDS/HIV scourge.

The councillor is also concerned that some companies refuse their employees a chance to have visitors while they are at the camps. He said recently a tourism company banned 14 of their former employees from visiting their partners still working in the camps. 'There is currently a campaign against the citizens having multi-concurrent partners but here is a company not giving people a chance to visit their partners. I believe the Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, Kitso Mokaila should intervene.'

In an undated communiqu, which is in possession of Mmegi, Orient Express welfare officer, Lecco Masoko, notified 14 of its former employees that they are not allowed in the camps as visitors. Mmegi's efforts to get a comment from the company's managing director was futile at the time of going to press as he is said to be out of the country.  However, assistant operations manager at the company, Alice Crowe confirmed that there was this notice but said they have since revisited the issue to allow the employees a chance to visit. 'Currently we are allowing our employees 20 visitors for the three months they spend in the bush,' she said. Crowe refused to explain whether this has been company policy all along,  refering all enquiries to the MD. She, however, pointed out that Orient Express staff policies are lenient compared to other companies, which do not even allow a single visitor for employees at the camps. Ntshogotho said the motive behind the ban was to punish the employees for leaving the company for greener pastures elsewhere.

HATAB chairman Grant Woodrow said currently employees spend at least three months in the bush before travelling for two weeks to their respective villages. There are concerns in some quarters that the period employees spend there is too long that relationships are reported to be common amongst staff members. Some of the employees are married and leave their partners in their villages. Mmegi understands that there is currently no policy that compels the companies to allow employees a chance to have their spouses for the period they spend in the bush.