Botswana Public Employees Union (BOPEU) wars are far from over as the current national executive committee has appealed Friday’s court judgement on urgency.
This follows a Friday court judgement delivered by Lobatse High Court Judge Mercy Garekwe in which it nullified the decisions carried out by BOPEU leadership since April 2019.
Ousted BOPEU President Masego Mogwera had sought court intervention in a dispute about the legitimacy of the proceedings and decisions of special congress held on the 29th of November 2019.
Speaking at a meeting briefing yesterday (Monday), BOPEU Second Vice President Donald Mekgwe said after thoroughly studying the Friday judgement, it was resolved to file the appeal of urgency.
The NEC resolved to note an expedited appeal of the judgement, we have since served the respondents with court papers today (Monday) and I must say that it is evident that what is politically broken cannot be solved by the courts. We humbly believe that these BOPEU fights can only be resolved by the general membership at Congress,” said Mekgwe.
Mekgwe said although they have noted court concerns over the overuse of people’s money to fight court battle, they remain without any alternative to resolve the matter.
“The Bopeu leadership laments the obvious negative effects of this judgement on the affairs of Babereki investment. Thus, the fear of possible conflict if interest exists and gives rise to the idea that Directors could close shop on account of the number of court cases that continue to stretch the budget,” added Mekgwe.
Mekgwe also noted that the judgement will have a severe impact on union members as it nullified the appointment of the 1st deputy President which means his attendance at bargaining meetings were illegal and therefore all resolutions which were taken there remain null and void.
“The adoption of the latest court judgement also means the CLA’s signed by the current leadership are null and void and they believe that the union should have been on standstill awaiting Mogwera’s court matters to finish. This would be a sad day as the said CLAs were done to protect the rights and interests of the members,” said Mekgwe.
The judge had observed that the courts are being bombarded with unmeritorious litigation by the same parties and take times seeking similar reliefs but in different proceedings.
Garekwe further observed that the orders given had the effect of simply confirming what other judges had already determined in other cases which are closely linked or associated with the present matter.
