Botswana's Labour Relations System: Lessons from 2011
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BOTSWANA’S LABOUR RELATIONS SYSTEM: LESSONS FROM 2011 PUBLIC SECTOR STRIKE Mpho Patience Mwatcha Student Number: 870949 A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of Sociology/Global Labour University Faculty of Humanities University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa Supervisor: Professor Roger Southall Page i of 112 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to God Almighty who carried me throughout my studies. My gratitude also goes to the Global Labour University committee for giving me an opportunity to enroll in this prestigious programme. The skills and knowledge I have acquired in this programme would not only contribute to my personal development but also indirectly and directly to the development of my native country, Botswana and by extension to the African continent. I am highly indebted to my supervisor Professor Roger Southall for the professional guidance, patience, insight and valuable feedback on my work. I am very grateful to Dr. Sarah Mosoetsa for the guidance and encouragement she offered with regards to the setbacks I confronted during the data collection process. I am also grateful to Dr. Ndala Marobela and Dr. Kaelo Molefhe from the University of Botswana and Goemeone Mogomotsi for the insightful comments that significantly helped in improving the focus of this study. I would like also to acknowledge the contributions made by the participants in this research. My gratitude goes to the staff at the following organisations; the International Labour Organisation in Pretoria; the Industrial Court in Gaborone, Rolong Landboard in Goodhope and Botswana Federation of Public Sector Unions for unselfishly sharing materials and their experiences in respect of Botswana Labour relations. Special mention is made to my husband Dr. Ernest Mwatcha for believing in me and funding my studies and this research. Doc. I salute you; the contribution you made towards my studies cannot be quantified. My special gratitude goes to my younger brother Moabi Molosankwe for the sacrifice, sometimes leaving his academic work to help my husband take care of my little Gabriella during my absence. I am also very grateful to my friend and sister Finky Madigele and to my brother Chengete Chakamera for accepting to do the editing. Lastly but by no means least, I would like to thank my grandmother, Edith Molosankwe, my mother Lorato Mavis Molosankwe, my mother in-law Jeanette Mwatcha and my father in-law Jean Baptiste Mwatcha for the love, support and most importantly prayers for strength and wisdom in my academic journey. Page ii of 112 LIST OF ACRONYMS BGWO Bechuanaland General Workers’ Organisation BFL Bechuanaland Federation of Labour BOFEPUSU Botswana Federation of Public Sector Unions BLLAHWU Botswana Land Boards, Local Authorities and Health Workers Union BMWU Botswana Mine Workers Union BOSETU Botswana Sector of Educators Trade Union BPWU Bechuanaland Protectorate Workers Union COSATU Congress of South African Trade Unions FAEU Francistown African Employees Union DIS Directorate of Intelligence and Security FES Friedrich Ebert Stiftung ICFTU International Confederation of Free Trade Unions ILO International Labour Organisation IMF International Monetary Fund NALCGPWU National Amalgamated Local Central Government and Parastatal Workers’ Union UNDP United Nations Development Programme Page iii of 112 ABSTRACT In 2011, public sector employees in Botswana engaged in a two-month-long legal strike over a wage dispute. The right to strike is a highly contentious and debatable right. None of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions makes an express reference to the right to strike but the ILO supervisory bodies insist that the right to strike is a fundamental right that confers power on trade unions to defend the interests of their members. By virtue of the decisions of ILO’s main two bodies, member states cannot admit the right of free association and to bargain collectively and then deny workers the right to strike. Furthermore, according to ILO, the right to strike extends to all workers in the public service, the only allowable exception being for employees directly involved in the administration of the state and ‘essential services’. Although several countries entrench this right in their constitution, violation is widespread. In such countries, while the right to strike exists in principle in reality it is essentially curtailed by unworkable procedures, as it is the case in Botswana. The 2011 public sector strike exposed the frailties of Botswana’s industrial relations, a country popularly eulogized as Africa’s economic miracle and a shining example of democracy. This study examined the lessons brought by the 2011 strike on the character of industrial relations system of Botswana. The study was largely guided by a qualitative paradigm and data was obtained through individual face-to-face interviews, Skype and focus group interviews as well as document review. This study established that there is a historical conflict between Botswana trade unions and the government. The 2011 strike inflamed already adversarial industrial relations. The findings of study confirm that following the 2011 public sector strike, the government has been hostile and vindictive to public sector unions especially those which steered the 2011 strike. Subsequent to the 2011 strike, the government rescinded most of the rights and freedoms that union leaders used to enjoy. There is a general consensus among public servants and their unions that Botswana labour relations has always been hostile towards trade unions and their activities, but this hostility has been obscured by the common review that Botswana is democratic, peaceful and an epitome of good governance in Africa. However, the 2011 public sector strike uncovered this mask. Page iv of 112 TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ....................................................................................................................... i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................... ii LIST OF ACRONYMS .......................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................. iv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 1 1.1. Overview of the Study ................................................................................................ 1 1.2. Aims and Objectives ................................................................................................... 1 1.3. Research Questions .................................................................................................... 2 1.4. Labour relations in Africa .......................................................................................... 2 1.5. Evolution Botswana as a democracy .......................................................................... 6 1.6. The Tswana Political System ..................................................................................... 7 1.7. Economic and Diamond Development ..................................................................... 14 1.8. Botswana’s authoritarianism disguised under the veneer of liberal democracy ...... 17 1.9. Industrial Relations in Botswana .............................................................................. 20 1.10. Historical overview of Trade Unionism in Botswana .............................................. 23 CHAPTER 2: GOVERNMENT-TRADE UNION RELATIONS IN AFRICA AND BOTSWANA ........................................................................................................................... 28 2.1. Industrial Relations trends in Africa ......................................................................... 28 2.2. Trade Unionism in the colonial age and the challenges thereof ............................... 29 2.3. Africa’s Trade unions in the Post-Colonial period ................................................... 32 2.4. Trade Unionism in contemporary Botswana ............................................................ 38 2.5. The historic 2011 public sector strike and the resultant conflict .............................. 42 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ................................................................. 49 3.1. Research Design ....................................................................................................... 49 3.2. Sampling ................................................................................................................... 49 3.3. Data Collection instruments and procedures ............................................................ 51 3.4 In-depth Interviews ................................................................................................... 51 3.5. Focus Groups Interviews .......................................................................................... 53 3.6. Document Analysis .................................................................................................. 54 3.7. Data Analysis ............................................................................................................ 54 3.8. Significance of study ................................................................................................ 55 3.9. Limitations