Say Chinese companies, and most Batswana immediately think of cranes lit by searchlights at night as construction projects precede around the clock, or cheap imitations of designer labels.
This commonly shared view, however, hides a multitude of sins. The admiration at the efficiency with which Chinese contractors build roads and government offices is matched by resentment among most Batswana who feel that these foreigners are taking hard work beyond acceptable limits – to abuse. The delight at cheap Giorgio Armani imitations jostles with the concern that Chinese traders are under cutting local retailers.
Citizen contractors who have stuck to age-old employment norms and labour relations are watching in horror as their Chinese counterparts snatch government contracts from under their noses.
The Minister of Infrastructure, Science and Technology, Johnnie Swartz, revealed at a recent consultative meeting with Chinese contractors that, “currently there are about 24 Chinese construction companies engaged in major government projects at an estimated total cost of P20 billion”.
For most of the eighties and nineties Botswana was the fastest growing economy in the world, faster than that of the Asian Tigers. With the construction industry riding the crest of a boom, the roar of the African lion attracted a flood of Chinese construction companies. Construction sites with an occasional Chinese construction company board was not the most immediate problem, but the influx of Chinese companies offering cheap construction rates began to attract attention. Botswana, which was going through a construction boom, began to witness the birth of citizen empowerment campaigns thanks to citizen contractors who were being priced out of the industry by Chinese competitors.
With the boom over and the business cake smaller, most Batswana investors are being frustrated by the increasing control Chinese immigrants have taken of the construction industry, clothing retail stores and other small businesses traditionally owned by Batswana. These days, most have Chinese owners who keep the shops open on Sundays and late into the night.
The conflict between the Chinese dragon and the Botswana lion is spilling into factory floors and construction sites where Asian investors are increasingly coming into conflict with citizen workers who approach work and the workplace with very different attitudes. Batswana workers are anxious over changing work patterns and debates are already brewing over working on weekends and late nite hours.
It is almost an article of faith that on Friday most Batswana make a beeline for their cattle posts. A few would stay behind to attend weddings and funerals on Saturdays or go to church on Sundays. The idea of working long hours on Saturdays and Sundays does not appeal to them. Most feel that the Chinese work culture is threatening age-old social customs, employment norms, and labour relations in Botswana. Chinese contractors on the other hand have different priorities. They care less about flexible working hours and more about material self-betterment through hard work.
A 1994, Gallup survey found that the credo “work hard and get rich” was by far the most popular among Chinese. Chinese contractors are reported to be sidelining Batswana workers and importing cheaper workers who are prepared to work long hours.
Minister Swartz complained that Chinese contractors are not utilizing local skills.  He said the use of locally produced materials was minimal despite government efforts to encourage them to source supplies locally.
Chinese contractors, on the other hand, took Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs (MLHA) officials to task over a directive urging them to treat Saturday and Sunday as rest days. The contractors complained that the directive curved out of a recent Industrial court judgment has led to most workers demanding to be allowed rest on weekends, and to be paid for the weekends they have worked in the past.
Sipho Nasha, Senior Public Relations Counselor of Deheng Group, a Chinese company, said, “We propose Madam P.S that you kindly explain both the judgment of the Industrial Court and what your directive meant by Saturday and Sunday being rest days, because as far as is widely known Botswana is a secular state so that it should be clear whether it was on religious or other considerations that the ruling was premised.”
Nasha argued that the judgment was quite at variance with the provisions of the employment laws of the country, which did not specifically prescribe any particular day as rest day, save for that on Saturdays employers had to pay their employees one and half time whereas Sundays earned double time.
The question was directed to Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs (MLHA), Segakweng Tsiane, who attended alongside her counterpart in the Ministry of Infrastructure, Science and Technology (MIST), Carter Morupisi, as well as MIST Minister, Johnny Swartz.
“It is unfortunate that, although the employment law provided otherwise, judgments of the Industrial Court and the High Court which prescribe or are somewhat at variance with already existing laws have to be implemented, but that is the rule,” responded Tsiane.
It emerged during the meeting that one Malawian citizen employed by unnamed Chinese Company had lodged a complaint with the Industrial Court for unfair dismissal following his refusal to work on weekends.
The Court then ruled in the employee’s favor, that both Saturday and Sunday are rest days. The court further ordered the company, to back pay the aggrieved worker for all the weekends that he was made to work, which led to compensation in the range of P 20, 000.00.
One of the Chinese Company directors approached Tsiane on the sidelines urging her to intervene as the situation threatened to degenerate, with employees at some of their sites insisting that if they are not given back pays and allowed to rest on Saturday they would embark on Industrial action.
“Even as I speak to you right now, I am going to Francistown to meet contingents of our employees to try and explain the situation, and we learn that other fellow Chinese Contractors are faced with the same challenge with the apparent risk of the situation spreading to a point of near or total paralysis,” said another Chinese contractor.
Meanwhile, the affected Chinese contractor has appealed the judgment at the High court.
