The unions initially planned to hand over the petition last Thursday but this was postponed. Botswana Secondary Teachers Union (BOSETU) executive secretary Justin Hunyepa said the other public service unions requested them to postpone handing the petition to give them time to mobilise their members. "After joining the Botswana Federation of Public Sectors Union we believe we are one team. Therefore they wanted to give the teachers support and show their solidarity," Hunyepa said.
He explained that the teachers want Venson-Moitoi to hear their side of the story and mediate in the matter. "We want her to realise that there is a serious crisis that she pretends not to see. As a union we want to see that as much as we advocate for the welfare of the teachers, we also want to see that there is quality education provided in schools," Hunyepa said. The Botswana Education Council (BEC) has been using independent invigilators after a boycott by teachers. Hunyepa said they want the minister to assist in speeding up consultations on hours of work between unions and the Directorate of Public Service Management. "We are calling on her to assist in speeding up the discussions as the supervisory ministry.
