The 'Garden Boy' Who Calls The Shots

LEKOPANYE MOOKETSI
Correspondent | Monday October 18, 2010 00:00

 

The Organising Secretary of the Manual Workers Union, Johnson Motshwarakgole, has become a doyen of workers' rights, having been in the leadership of Botswana's labour movement for three decades.

Motshwarakgole, whose first job was as a 'garden boy,' holds the strategic position of chief organiser in a powerful union that has fought pitched battles with the government.

The humble beginnings of the man who hails from Molepolole include having to drop out of primary school at Standard Four because his parents could not pay his fees. But he did not give up on his goal to emancipate himself from poverty.

After he left school, he worked as a 'garden boy' for a white woman at the Village suburb of Gaborone, a stone's throw from the offices of the union he leads. With the benefit of hindsight, Motshwarakgole reckons he participated in child labour because he was hardly 16 years old then.

 But even at that early age, Motshwarakgole became politically curious. He vividly remembers following the case of another 'garden boy' who was fired for kicking his white master's dog and yelling 'voetsek' to the canine. He remembers that the accused was represented by Keitumile Gabonewe, who is the incumbent councillor for Sekgwa Ward in Gaborone. Peter Mmusi, who was to become the Vice President of Botswana, presided over the hearing of the case as Commissioner of Labour. He ordered the re-instatement of the 'garden boy.'

 Alongside the late Ditiro Saleshando, a trade unionist, the younger Motshwarakgole used to attend labour meetings at Letlapeng La Babereki at New Naledi. Ditiro's elder brother, Gil of the BCP fame, was a district commissioner. The meetings were addressed by the likes of Klaas Motshidisi and the late Frank Marumo, among several other unionists of the time. They were also shown slow motion films (di-baeskopo) featuring labour issues.

In 1970, Motshwarakgole was hired by the Department of Veterinary Services in Gaborone as a labourer. His salary was 63 cents per month, while his subsistence allowance was five cents per night when he was on trips. He says they were regarded as casual labourers and remembers that that the conditions were tough. Fortunately, after four months on the job, a Salaries Review Commission raised Motshwarakgole's salary to R2.63 per month. 'Life became far much better,' he says with a sigh of relief.

There were no strong unions in the public service then, including the Manual Workers Union. Motshwarakgole joined it, serving as a branch committee member and a shop steward. He was soon elevated to the national executive committee.

In 1980, the union employed Motshwarakgole as Organising Secretary, the post he holds to-date. His brief was to organise the workers. He remembers that BMWU's entire monthly revenue of the union was P250. Motswhwarakgole soldiered on with the union's Administrative Secretary, Maswe Manale, whom he regards as his mentor.

Motshwarakgole recalls that during the 1980s, industrial class employees endured unfavourable conditions of service. It was common for female employees to be fired from work when they fell pregnant and unheard of for them to stay in hotels, for instance. Motshwarakgole says they fought such aspects of labour laws until they were scrapped. Industrial class workers are now paid full salaries for three months when they are on maternity leave and can enjoy accommodation in five-star establishments like their bosses.

Motshwarakgole remembers a time when he and an officer travelled by train to Francistown - the officer in a first class compartment while Motshwarakgole went in the 'bombela' - third class! When they arrived in Francistown, the officer checked into a hotel while Motshwarakgole had to lodge with friends in a high-density neighbourhood. 

During lunch, the officer would dash off to his hotel for a sumptuous meal, while Motshwarakgole made do with measly handouts his fellow industrial class workers stole for him from the Jubilee Hospital kitchen.

On their return to Gaborone, Motshwarakgole informed the then Director of Personnel, Ponatshego Kedikilwe, about the humiliation he was subjected to. Motshwarakgole reports that 'PHK' did not find the gross discrimination amusing, and 'things were improved'. On his next trip to Francistown, Motshwarakgole was booked into the then Grand Hotel, the first time he slept in a hotel. Unused to such luxurious surroundings, the self-effacing Motshwarakgole says he got up early the next morning to clean the bathroom and make his bed, believing it the right thing to do to leave the room in the condition in which he had found it!

But the subsistence or night out allowance for industrial class workers still remained low, compared to permanent and pensionable officers, constituting another bone of contention between the union and the government. Motshwarakgole says they once held an all night meeting with Kedikilwe and former president Festus Mogae, who was then Permanent Secretary to the President, something the two eminent men do not forgot.

Subsistence allowance is now uniform across the civil service, which Motshwarakgole says is another victory for the Manual Workers Union.

But there were issues still. Industrial class employees used to be considered temporary and could thus be fired by any one officer.  'Ba ne ba re maloko a rona a kwadilwe ka pencil,' Mothswarakgole says. The union forced the government to change the regulations so that industrial class employees could be fired only by a permanent secretary.  In addition, there are also elaborate measures to be taken, unlike in the past when they could just be fired at the stroke of a pen.

 Another major victory came in 1990 when the Botswana Manual Workers Union gained the full recognition of the government. But in the following year, the union mounted what is perhaps its most bruising battle with the government by means of a five-day strike that paralysed government services throughout the country.

Motshwarakgole remembers the strike as if it was yesterday. The union was demanding a 154 percent wage hike or a minimum wage of P600 per month. At that time, a mere 19 years ago, industrial class employees were paid P280 per month.

Motshwarakgole says the proposal arose from a meeting of the National Joint Industrial Coordinating Committee (NJICC), which was the negotiating committee made up of government and union representatives. NJICC approved the proposal after the union produced statistics on the cost of living. However, the government dug its heels in and rejected the proposal, saying NJICC had no mandate to approve a salary increment. Protracted talks with the government ended in a stalemate. 'This is what led to the strike,' says the unionist.

During the strike, the workers would burst into song, 'Re neeleng di-tsa-rona. (Give us what is due to us)', which became a national anthem for the industrial action throughout the country. 'Majela tlhoko ke lona, le loilwe ke mang?  Le loilwe ke Merafhe,' the workers would sing all day long. The Mompati Merafhe whom the song accused of  'bewitching' the workers was the Minister of Presidential Affairs and Public Administration at the time.

So intransigent was the government that it fired all the more than 30,000 workers on strike, prompting a series of legal battles. Motshwarakgole says the union learnt about a secret meeting called by former president Ketumile Masire at State House at which Masire asked senior government officials what to do.  One of the officials who attended the meeting was Lieutenant General Ian Khama, who was the Commander of the Botswana Defence Force at the time. Motshwarakgole says they received intelligence to the effect that Khama wanted the striking workers arrested and flogged. Whereupon Masire had teased Khama that being a chief, he would be the appropriate person to do the flogging!

However, it was the former Commissioner of Labour, Tembo Lebang, who carried the day with his sober suggestion of reinstating the workers because the government could deal more effectively with them under its control. Accordingly, the result was that the workers were reinstated and further: the government wanted to convert the workers into permanent and pensionable employees.

Regarding it as ploy to effectively deny the workers the right to unionise, the union would have none of it. Motshwarakgole remembers that government officials went around the country addressing industrial class workers, promising them cars and houses. This prompted the union to address its own meetings to counter what it viewed as misleading government propaganda. In the end, the union won again when only 1,000 industrial class employees converted to permanent and pensionable status.

The union also held a meeting with Masire, convincing the President that workers should not be forced to convert. Motshwarakgole says while Masire was 'quite cooperative', Merafhe proved a tough nut to crack. 'Our relationship with him (Merafhe) was not good at all,' says the unionist.  At one time, Merafhe reportedly told the people of Rakops that industrial class employees were demanding salary increases because they wanted to spend the money on alcohol and cause road accidents.

Looking back, Motshwarakgole muses that their struggle of many years is beginning to bear fruit. Conditions in the civil service are far much better and the government has ratified several conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). 

However, there are  some outstanding issues that need to be settled. Motshwarakgole says since the inception of the new Public Service Act, it is not clear whether industrial class employees are still pensionable. There is also the issue of the establishment of the National Bargaining Council for which unions have been waiting for seven years. The salaries of government employees have also not been increased for three years.

Motshwarakgole's contribution to the labour movement has not been restricted to public service employees. He is one of the founders of the Botswana Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU) which was inaugurated by the late President Sir Seretse Khama in 1977. Motshwarakgole and former Zambian president Fredrick Chiluba were among the founders of the Southern African Confederation of Trade Unions (SACTU).He is also a founder of the new federation of public service unions.

The doyen of Botswana's workers' movement has been on fact-finding missions to countries like the United States. Motshwarakgole now wants to retire. He says he has notified his employers that he does not want to renew his contract when it expires next year. While the employers will make the final decision, it is not going to be easy one given the abilities - proven - of such a committed unionist.