“As much as we want to fix the business environment in Botswana bringing in investors, we need to address the issues of labour laws. Investors should be made to understand that it is not okay to make Batswana slaves. Currently, foreign companies abuse Batswana workers. They pay them low wages and do not follow the labour laws. We have always requested that when we bring in investors, let’s make sure one of the requirements is that they follow the laws of Botswana,” Butale said. Butale said they have just reviewed the Public Service Act, The Trade Union and Employers Organisation Act, the Trade Dispute Act and the Employment Act and finished the process in 2021 as per the call by the ILO.
The call came after BOFEPUSU had reported Botswana to the ILO for several labour relations breaches. “In 2022 when we checked whether the Attorney General had processed the laws, he said the government had not prioritised the labour laws. That means all the labour laws are not a priority. Whenever priority laws come, labour laws are pushed back. It was a feedback provided to us as a federation and the ILO in November 2022. “We have since submitted a report to the ILO to the effect that government is not prioritising labour laws as requested by ILO in 2017. This means when we go to the International Labour Conference in June, Botswana should be able to submit a report and we are bringing this up because you cannot talk about a business environment without talking labour laws. And if government is prioritising the business environment, it needs to prioritise review and reform of labour laws. It is a critical area,” he said. Meanwhile Butale also lamented that Labour offices in the country are in a very bad state. “If you go to all these labour offices, you will see that the resources are appalling. The furniture is broken and the offices are not looking good. We need to resource also mediators and arbitrators through digital means if we are advancing as a country. We submitted this to the Minister and hoped the budget would be able to cover. But once more it has not been done,” he said.
