“We have not received the police response regarding our request for permission to march ahead of the conference, but we do not anticipate any hitches, since we conduct similar marches annually ahead of our annual conferences,” BOSETU secretary general Tobokani Rari said. This time around however the demonstration which shall culminate in a rally comes in the wake of government presenting several pieces of legislation in Parliament, viewed by the trade union movement in Botswana as regressive.
On Friday Rari told The Monitor on the sidelines of BOSETU’s governing council meeting at Cresta Lodge in Gaborone that they have invited sister unions to release their members to join BOSETU in the march to demonstrate against government’s unilateral amendments of laws without the input of the affected trade unions. “There has been a strong wave of anti-trade unionism exhibited by government of late, showing itself in government amending various pieces of legislation to regress our gains; as teachers we recently received a communication from the ministry intending to amend the Botswana Examinations Council (BEC) Act, an amendment that will affect the teaching cadre.”
