Essential workers' appeal set for July

BAME PIET
Staff Writer | Friday June 3, 2011 00:00

Botswana Federation of Public Service Unions (BOFEPUSU) spokesman Goretetse Kekgonegile confirmed in Gaborone yesterday that their attorneys were able to appear before court beating the deadline after Registrar of the Court of Appeal Michael Motlhabi expressed concern at the slow pace the case is moving.

In a letter written to the Botswana Landboard and Local Authorities Workers Union (BLLAHWU) and others, copied to the Director of the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM) and the Attorney General, Motlhabi laments that the parties are delaying progress. He said that the matter was set down three times but failed to proceed because of non-attendance of BLLAHWU only giving excuses on the day of the meeting. 'In all the above three instances they empowered me to proceed with the settlement even in the absence of any of the parties, but I refrained from doing so because of the nature of the matter and the fact that it is of national interest,' the letter says.

He appealed to BLLAHWU to show commitment that it wants the matter heard in July session, and that it should send representatives to the meeting. 'This will be the fourth time I am setting this matter down for settlement, whether the parties attend or not I will proceed with determination of security for costs. If the amount to be determined is not paid by the cut-off date, I will place the matter among the dismissals list in the July 2011 roll,' he said.

The case is an appeal of a court ruling made early last month at the Industrial Court on an order that disallowed essential workers to strike. Some of the workers defied the order and continued with the strike, which resulted in government dismissing them.