In August 2011, the Director of Public Service Management (DPSM) wrote to the five unions informing them that she was terminating organisational rights which the applicants, as recognised unions, had hitherto enjoyed.The then DPSM director Festinah Bakwena wrote that she had decided to cancel facilitation for the deduction of loan repayments to unions and micro lenders. Bakwena also told them she had decided to withdraw provision of office accommodation assistance to Botswana Public Employees Union (BOPEU). and that DPSM would ceased secondment of public service employees to unions.
Bakwena also terminated provision of transport for union activities and required renegotiation of the terms of government assistance to unions. Other affected unions were Botswana Land Board and Local Authorities and Health Workers Union (BLLAHWU), Botswana Sectors of Educators Trade Union (BOSETU), Botswana Teachers Union (BTU) and the National Amalgamated Local and Central Government and Parastatal Workers Union (NALCGPWU).
