Unionists departure deals blow to retrenched workers' case

CHAKALISA DUBE
Staff Writer | Thursday June 20, 2013 00:00

The bid by the retrenched miners to get redress at the court has suffered a body blow after their leaders resigned from the Botswana Mine Workers Union (BMWU) Mupane branch. The workers planned to move to court after they failed to reach an agreement with the mine at the District Labour office. It is reported that at a BMWU national executive  committee meeting early this month, following the resignation of Mupane branch secretary,  Setlalekgosi Kooreme and chairman Thuso Raditsebe, the miners suggested that plans to go to court should be shelved. The resignation of the two is said to have left the miners in limbo because they felt the national office was not supportive of their case.

The retrenched miners have reportedly said the resignations from the union have limited their chances of winning the case. Yesterday, Bob Malele the secretary general of the BMWU confirmed that some of the miners wanted them to abandon plans to go to court. 'We are however waiting to hear from the newly elected branch committee members.

'Should they propose that we go on with the case, we will do so but if they think that we do not have the merits on going on with case, we will abandon it. We will be meeting them soon,' he said.Meanwhile the new Mupane branch committee was elected last week.

The committee is made up of new faces because almost all members who made up the old committee, excluding Kooreme and Raditsebe, were retrenched. The new BMWU Mupane branch president is Chilani Takongwa, while Edward Mohutsiwa is the secretary.