Police Act declared unconstitutional

Participants at a three-day symposium, organised by Police and Prison Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) and Botswana Public Employees Union (BOPEU), said that it is unfair for the Act to bar police officers from unionising while the Constitution of Botswana and the Bill of Rights gives them the right.

The section partly reads that: 'No police officer shall be a member of any political party; shall become a member of any trade union, or any body or association affiliated to trade union; any body which includes in its objects the control or influence of pay, pensions, conditions of service or loyalty of the service... Any police officer who is involved in unionism may be called for discipline, penalised or even dismissed from service".