The union took a decision to boycott the general elections after salary negotiations with BCL mine stalled. Addressing a rally during the launch of Thakadiawa council candidate Evelyn Kgodungwe on Sunday, Xhabue said the move is illegal as the union is depriving its membership of their fundamental constitutional rights to vote the government of their choice. He said members should reject the leadership decision. Xhabue, who is also the regional chairman of Botswana Federation of Public Sector Unions (BOFEPUSU) in Francistown, announced publicly that he was still a civil servant. He dismissed BOFEPUSU leadership’s announcement that the federation had put its support behind the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) in the coming general elections. He said the position only represents views of a few individuals who are supporters of the parties under the umbrella.
“The decision was never sanctioned by BOFEPUSU. Our last congress in 2012 made a resolution that the Umbrella has failed and we took a decision that we are not going to be partisan in 2012 when we elected BOFEPUSU leadership. There has never been any other congress that could have made a resolution to support the Umbrella,” he said.
