LABOUR

Botswana strike shows workers’ power

by Farid Omar

In mid-June Botswana’s Unions for Public Service workers ended the country’s eight-week strike after accepting less than desired salary increases of three per cent.

But union leaders who initially demanded a 16 per cent raise said the strike was a success as it highlighted workers’ rights. It is also believed that the strike has created the necessary conditions that would help re-shape the political dynamics in Botswana.

In a country where the political opposition and sectors of civil society have failed to challenge effectively the government since independence, the people of Botswana have found a new, viable space for dissent—a resurgent labour movement that is fighting for workers’ rights and challenging austerity rule.

Author Stephen Chan says that the “expressiveness of dissent, as led by the unions, is an important development in Botswana.”

The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) government that has ruled the Southern African nation since independence in 1966 has deceitfully crafted the image of Botswana as “a shining democratic model” for Africa that, for so long, deceived world opinion.

But the massive strike by 100,000 civil servants has dented that image, as schools and hospitals were closed and the government used draconian measures to undermine the labour, action including the sacking of hundreds of workers.

“Botswana cannot be a model of democracy when workers get punished for demanding what is theirs,” said Botswana Federation of Public Sector Unions Secretary General, Andrew Motsamai.

The civil service strike, the largest ever in Botswana’s history, is a sign of the growing power of the country’s labour movement. Fearful of a renewed labour action, the government has taken the unlikely step of allowing the re-instatement of fired workers who defied a back-to-work court order. All fired workers have to do is reapply to get back their jobs.

The strike is credited with changing the political landscape in Botswana. Three of Botswana’s main opposition parties have agreed to form a coalition to challenge the BDP in the 2014 general elections. The strike also gave the opposition parties a rallying point, with the Botswana National Front and the Botswana Movement for Democracy vocally backing the unions.

The ruling BDP that has dominated Botswana’s politics for decades appears to have been weakened and now faces a stiff challenge from the previously divided opposition parties.

By every account, it is likely that the labour situation in Botswana will greatly influence the outcome of the next general election in the diamond-rich nation.

And unlike South Africa, Botswana’s labour movement is no longer linked to the ruling party. This means that it is now easier for workers to resort to labour action than ever before.

The strike further exposes neoliberal austerity as the evil that is eroding workers’ rights and communities’ access to resources. Throughout Africa and beyond, it was persistently pointed out that the strike was about workers’ struggle against neoliberal restructuring of the public sector, characterized by sustained attacks on workers’ rights.