BMWU endorses BONU concerns over the Presidential Covid-19 Task Team and De Beers Front Liners Initiative

Botswana Mine Workers Union (BMWU) supports the sentiments expressed by Botswana Nurses Union (BONU) in their press release dated January 9, 2021, in which they challenged the motive and intended outcome of the De Beers Group and Presidential Covid-19 Frontline Workers Appreciation Initiative.

Several important issues were raised by BONU, including, the discriminative nature of the initiative, its exclusion of other disciplines working in the frontlines, public participation in an otherwise suspect exercise, allocation of COVID-19 funds towards endeavours that do not attend to the immediate needs of our public health system, the perceived bias on nominees and the competitive nature of the initiative.

The initiative itself, whose entire process is centered around the solicitation of votes from the public to award frontline workers, one carat diamond from De Beers and Wi-Fi from Mascom defeats the purpose of the initiative’s true intent.

Editor's Comment
Human rights are sacred

It highlights the need to protect rights such as access to clean water, education, healthcare and freedom of expression.President Duma Boko, rightly honours past interventions from securing a dignified burial for Gaoberekwe Pitseng in the CKGR to promoting linguistic inclusion. Yet, they also expose a critical truth, that a nation cannot sustainably protect its people through ad hoc acts of compassion alone.It is time for both government and the...

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