The Botswana Public Employees Union (BOPEU) in Francistown has reacted angrily to a rumour from other unions that it is funded by the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in its running expenses and even its assets.
During a press conference last week, the Chairman of BOPEU Francistown branch, Kethapeleng Karabo, lambasted the reports saying that it is saddening that BOPEU being a union that has fought many battles for the plight of the public employees it continues to be tainted with unfounded and senseless rumours to destroy its image.
“Recently there were reports in the media that our Union is supported by the ruling party in terms of assets and other costs, which is a lie because we have our own assets of up to P65 million,” he said.
Karabo said that the public needs to be able to tell the difference between the government and the ruling political party as the two are not the same. He added that they, as BOPEU, are employed by the Department of Public Service Management (DPSM), which is the government not the BDP as some people allege.
Among other issues, Karabo mentioned that BOPEU will continue to work peacefully with other non-governmental organizations and will forge on with its mandate of being the voice of the employee to the employer.
“As BOPEU Francistown we also pledge to raise an amount of P5 000 this year as part of our fundraising initiatives to try and give back to the community we serve,” he added.
Touching on the strategic plan by the Union for this year, Secretary of BOPEU in Francistown, Pambana Masame, said that they intend to increase their assets by recruiting more members into the Union. He said that they want to introduce more products and will exert their efforts in making sure that there is more effective service delivery to members because every member should be well represented.
Masame concluded by saying that they intend to open an office with a state of the art technological equipment to try and enhance their services to the members.
BOPEU held the press conference in an attempt to clear its name on reports of its alleged affiliation to the ruling political party.
