The strike was, amongst others, precipitated by former president Ian Khama’s antipathy towards trade unions. The history of Khama’s days in office is littered with tales of how he made several attempts to suppress trade unions. Khama’s regime did not even comply with the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) conventions that the country is a signatory to.
The delivery of public service across all government sectors were negatively affected by the month-long strike. This angered citizens who felt that the government was unreasonable in its failure to negotiate and resolve the impasse with the leadership of trade unions. Some members of the public sector trade unions were fired from work as a result of Khama’s disdain for trade unions. Just after the strike, the government appeared before the ILO where Botswana’s case with regards to contravening certain conventions of the latter was heard. Many also believed that the 2011 public sector strike was a historic one because it shocked the socio-economic and political establishments. Prior to the strike, civil society activism had been downplayed in Botswana.
