Civil servants salaries will go up
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Incoming President Mokgweetsi Masisi looks set to sweep unions under their feet. Government’s decision to engage Malaysian company, Performance Management & Delivery Unit (PEMANDU) Associates to review the public service remuneration and performance systems, is expected to be the basis for a long overdue increment for government workers.
BOFEPUSU family of trade unions recently confirmed that on 14th February 2018 met the Employer (DPSM) on over the issue of salaries. At the meeting, DPSM proposed a salary increment to the Public servants pending the outcome of reports of consultants engaged by the two parties. “The Union party submitted that it accepts the principle of salary increase, but that should not prejudice their labour rights as per their Collective labour agreements. The house did not finish its business and the next meeting is scheduled for 20th February 2018. We remain hopeful that such a meeting will bear desirable fruits,” Mogomotsi Motshegwa, BOFEPUSU Acting Secretary General.
According to the Directorate of Public Servants Management (DPSM), the company has been contracted with special focus on the remunerations which have gone unchanged for some time now. Trade unions have been at war with government over public servants salaries for a long time now. Just recently, the Public Service Bargaining Council (PSBC) collapsed owing to incongruities between government and trade unions. The contracted company will also review government’s Performance Management System (PMS) tools.
“The consultancy was initiated on the basis of the need to establish a proper remuneration system that will guide future reviews of salaries. This was necessitated by calls from employees to relook at the current salaries, which are believed to be low relative to market rates,” DPSM director Ruth Maphorisa said.
The expectation from DPSM is that the ongoing exercise will establish a remuneration system for Botswana that will set parameters for salary structure and the basis reviews in relation to the budget. The study will further link remuneration to performance management and the reward system. It is also to address issues relating to allowances which have been a source of litigation.
According to Maphorisa, the consultancy will run for 52 weeks and it commenced on the 1st December 2017. The consultancy has been awarded at the cost of USD (1,677,390) inclusive of withholding tax of USD 218, 790. However, sources are of the view that the consultancy might propose recommendations that border on altering of conditions of service. “Government should bear in mind that some of the issues that the consultancy might propose on its recommendations might border on altering of the current conditions of service,” a source said before adding, “The same conditions of service for employees however fall squarely with negotiable matters and as such government will have to negotiate with unions on the recommendations of the consultancy.”
Trade unions on the other hand say they were not engaged on the decision but rather informed that the consultancy had begun in December. “We were only informed about this development in December by government,” Botswana Federation of Public Sector Unions (BOFEPUSU) Secretary General Tobokani Rari said.
Meanwhile BOFEPUSU, insisted on being part of the evaluation meeting of the consultancy’s research, and are also carrying out a parallel exercise to compare it with PEMANDU’s. “The federation has since engaged Tsa Badiri Consultancy to carry out a review of the same with a view to table the report to DPSM that we would use to bargain in view of them engaging their company,” Rari said.
Quizzed on whether the union does not trust the Malay company, Rari said: “It is not that we don’t trust them, we cannot cast aspersions on them. We don’t know whether they will do a good job or not, but our reasons for engaging Tsa Badiri is that we are definitely of the conviction that issues subjected to a consultancy by DPSM are issues within the realms of bargaining and negotiations.” The union believes that it will need to have an informed position on them to engage DPSM when the consultancy is completed. The two reports are expected to be done before April with government and unions expected to start negotiating employees’ conditions using the recommendations by the two consultants.
WHY DPSM ENGAGED PEMANDU?
The relationship between DPSM with PEMANDU has grown out of bilateral cooperation with the government of Malaysia for South-South development. The company according to reports has previously assisted DPSM in coming up with the delivery unit for Vision 2036 and National Development Plan.
PEMANDU Associates is a consultancy firm established by PEMANDU; a Malaysian government unit that was established under the Prime Minister’s department in 2009. It has since been disestablished. PEMANDU's main role and objective was to oversee the implementation, assess the progress, facilitate as well as support the delivery and drive the progress of the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP). It is touted for its success in transforming the Malaysian economy, and their work, and in particular their Big Fast Result methodology in providing solutions on transforming government in other countries is well documented.
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Local tennis team upbeat ahead of Billie Jean King cup
With almost two weeks until the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup, which will be staged in Kenya from June 12-17, 2023, the Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) ladies’ team coach, Ernest Seleke, is optimistic about reaching greater heights.
Billie Jean King Cup, or the BJK Cup, is a premier international team competition in women’s tennis, launched as the Federation Cup to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The BJK Cup is the world’s largest annual women’s international team sports competition in terms of the number of nations that compete.
The finals will feature 12 teams (Botswana, Burundi, Ghana, Kenya, Seychelles, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Tunisia, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, and the Democratic Republic of Congo) competing in the four round-robin groups of three. The four group winners will qualify for the semifinals, and the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup will be crowned after the completion of the knockout phase.
Closer to home, the BW Tennis team is comprised of Thato Madikwe, Leungo Monnayoo, Chelsea Chakanyuka, and Kelebogile Monnayoo. However, according to Seleke, they have not assembled the team yet as some of the players are still engaged.
“At the moment, we are depending on the players and their respective coaches in terms of training. However, I will meet up with Botswana-based players in the coming week, while the United States of America (USA) based player Madikwe will probably meet us in Kenya. Furthermore, Ekua Youri and Naledi Raguin, who are based in Spain and France respectively, will not be joining us as they will be writing their examinations,” said Seleke.
Seleke further highlighted the significance of this competition and how competitive it is. “It is a massive platform for our players to showcase their talent in tennis, and it is very competitive as countries target to get promoted to the world categories where they get to face big nations such as Spain, France, USA, and Italy. Though we are going to this tournament as underdogs because it is our second time participating, I’m confident that the girls will put in a good showing and emerge with results despite the odds,” highlighted Seleke.
Quizzed about their debut performance at the BJK Cup, he said, “I think our performance was fair considering the fact that we were newbies. We came third in our group after losing to North Macedonia and South Africa. We went on to beat Uganda, then Kenya in the playoffs. Unfortunately, we couldn’t play Burundi due to heavy rainfall and settled for the position 9/10,” he said.
For her part, team representative Leungo Monnayoo said they are working hard as they aim to do well at the tourney. “The preparations for the tourney have long begun because we practice each and every day. We want to do well, hence we need to be motivated. Furthermore, I believe in my team as we have set ourselves a big target of coming home with the trophy,” she said.
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Pep Stores donates sanitary towels to Popagano JSS
The Guidance and Counseling unit at Popagano Junior Secondary School received a donation of 790 sanitary towels from Pep stores on Thursday.
When presenting the donation, Mareledi Thebeng, the Dinokaneng Area Manager, highlighted their belief in giving back to the community, as their existence depends on the communities they serve. Thebeng pointed out that research indicates one in four girls miss school every day due to the lack of basic necessities like sanitary towels. Therefore, as a company, they strive to assist in alleviating this situation. She expressed hope that this donation would help ensure uninterrupted learning for girls.
Upon receiving the donation on behalf of the students, Charity Sambire, the President of the Student Representative Council, expressed her gratitude. Sambire specifically thanked Pep Store for their generous gift, speaking on behalf of the students, especially the girl child.
She conveyed their sincere appreciation for Pep Store’s compassion and quoted the adage, “Blessed is the hand that gives.” Sambire expressed the students’ hope for Pep Stores’ prosperity, enabling them to continue supporting the students. As a gesture of gratitude, the students pledged to excel academically.
During her speech, Motlalepula Madome, the Senior Teacher in Guidance and Counseling, highlighted that many students at the school come from disadvantaged backgrounds where parents struggle to provide basic necessities. Consequently, some students miss school when they experience menstruation due to this lack.
Madome emphasized the significance of the donation in preventing the girl child from missing lessons and its potential to improve the school’s overall results. She expressed the school’s gratitude and expressed a desire for continued support from Pep Stores.
Popagano Junior Secondary School, situated in the Okavango District, holds the second position academically in the North West region. Despite its location, the school has been dedicated to achieving excellence since 2017
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Botswana misses out critical PAP committee meeting
The Pan African Parliament (PAP) committee on gender, family, youth and people with disability in its sitting considered, adopted and recommended to the plenary session the preliminary report on the framework for the model law on gender equality.
According to the last week’s media release from PAP which is sitting with its various committees until June 2nd, the committee is following up the PAP initiative to draw up a model law on gender equality to enable national governments to harmonize, modernize and standardize their legislations to address local needs is set to be discussed in Plenary.
However, what is concerning is the fact that Botswana which is a member state missed the deliberations. Kgosi Mosadi Seboko who sat in the committee representing Botswana has since been ejected by parliament and this is a huge blow for a nation that is still battling equity and gender balance.
“Although PAP has no legislative powers it makes model laws for member states to adopt. PAP also develops protocols to be ratified by countries. The input of countries at Committee state is extremely critical. It now means the voice of Botswana is missing the discussions leading up to development of protocols or model laws,” said one of Botswana’s representative at PAP Dr. Kesitegile Gobotswang who is attending the current session.
While Botswana is missing, the committee meeting took place on the sidelines of the Sixth PAP second ordinary Session being held under the African Union Theme of the Year for 2023, “The Year of AfCFTA: Accelerating the Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area” in Midrand, South Africa and will run up to 2 June 2023. Chairperson of the Committee, Hon Mariam Dao-Gabala expressed satisfaction with preliminary processes undertaken so far towards the formulation of the Model Law,” a release from the PAP website reads.
“The law should be suitable to all countries whatever the predominant culture or religion is. The aim is to give an opportunity to women to participate in the economic, political and social development of the continent. Women are not well positioned and face a lot of obstacles. We are introducing the idea of equity in the Law because we cannot talk about equality without equity,” said Hon Mariam Dao-Gabala in the press statement.
The release has stated that among issues to be covered by the Model Law is the migratory movements of women. The Committee proffered that this has to be addressed at the continental level to ensure that migrant women enjoy all their rights and live with dignity in their destination country. The members of the Gender Committee undertook consultations to consolidate the contributions of the various stakeholders that will be the logical framework format for the Model Law.