CoA To Hand Judgement On Public Servants� Primaries� Rights

Letsididi ruled that the Public Service Act (PSA) does not prohibit public officers from participating in primary elections. His judgement came after the Botswana Public Employees Union (BOPEU) and National Amalgamated Central, Local and Parastatal Manual Workers Union (NALCGPWU) took the Permanent Secretary to the President (PSP) to court seeking a determination on the legal interpretation of Section 5 (5) (b) of the Public Service Act No 30 of 2008.

The lawsuit followed a November 2013 directive from then PSP, Eric Molale prohibiting all public officers from participating or voting in political parties’ primary elections. Molale quoted Section 5 of the PSA, which prohibits civil servants from being active members of political parties, or holding political office. However, Justice Letsididi, in his ruling handed down in June, said the section did not bar civil servants from voting in primary elections.