No words are strong enough to describe the situation in the country since the public sector strike first broke.
The health sector has been the hardest hit.
Employees in the health sector have withdrawn labour, leaving the lives of many of vulnerable citizens in danger.
Health facilities have also been left in unhygienic state. They have become a cesspool of decay and rot.
Some Hospitals and Clinics have been closed; patients have been sent home and, worse for a country that is still complaining about shortage of manpower in the health sector, government has fired several doctors and nurses who participated in the strike.
The non availability of public officers has also crippled the economy in areas of trade, finance and other economic activities that rely significantly on government patronage.
On the Education front for instance, schools have been shut down indefinitely. Scores of learners are currently missing out on a noble chance to learn because teachers are not prepared to teach unless their salaries are hiked.
There is no doubt that with each passing day, the impasse between the Unions and government compounds the situation for many Batswana. All this is an unprecedented tragedy.
Politically, it is a struggle for the country’s soul. A testing time, indeed. Even as this may provide colourful political fodder, it is not at all amusing.
Yes, it is a historic tale for many in the labour movement and a test on President Ian Khama’s administration. Nonetheless, it has escalated into a national crisis which, if not resolved quickly and proficiently, will send this country to the dogs.
The fact of the matter is that even if the striker was to come to an end tomorrow, the country will for a long time contend with a backlog that will take much longer to clear.
In other words, the aftershocks and effects will remain long before everyone has gone back to work.
Initially, the idea was to demonstrate the workers’ might and push the employer back to the negotiating table or coerce him to make a new offer. But the situation has mutated way above what the workers intended to achieve.
We are particularly concerned that ever since the Industrial Court ordered Essential Service workers to return to their posts, very few have bothered to ask them to obey the court order. This has literarily paralyzed the health sector.
The Union has made little effort to ensure that the court order is obeyed. Opposition politicians, such as Duma Boko, Dumelang Saleshando and Gomolemo Motswaledi, have evaded making any comment in relation to the Court Order.
More worrisome is that these leaders embraced with open arms an announcement by various workers employed in the essential service cadre to join the strike despite the court order.
These are the same leaders whose complaint about the lack of respect for the rule of law has turned into a national mantra. We must all uphold the rule of law even when the general feeling is that the courts are unsympathetic. There is a saying that says those who approach the courts must do so with clean hands.
We are not convinced the workers have had their hands very much clean.
As a responsible publication, we feel that condoning the idea of Essential Service participation in the ongoing strike is not only wrong but unprincipled. We appreciate politicians’ contribution and role in the ongoing strike because, naturally, workers’ issues are political in nature.
However, as a government in waiting, the opposition should not be selective when it comes to the rule of law and respecting court orders.
Above all, it came as a shock to learn that government has fired several employees employed to provide Essential Service.
It is reckless for a government, which claims to be responsible, to sack doctors and nurses at a time when the country is in deficit of such manpower.
It is on this note that we insist that Essential Service employees should return to work without further ado.
While our take is that the decision to fire Essential Services is a result of wrong advice, we also feel it was unwise for doctors and nurses to join the strike as a rebellious gesture subsequent to the sacking of their colleagues.
However, all that is immaterial because our people are in dire need of health services and other services, which parliament, in its wisdom, has labeled to be essential in nature.
It is our view that Government was disingenuous by firing workers in the essential service cadre when it had an option to file a contempt case against the unions or any of the doctors and nurses they have dismissed. It is our hope that our government has faith in our judiciary. In short, dismissing these employees was not only ill advised, but also counter-productive.
We, therefore, urge government to reinstate all fired employees because it has done nothing except to heighten the tension. It is our view that only negotiations will give birth to an amicable solution.
All Essential Service workers must return to work.
This can only be achieved if maturity and a ‘give and take attitude’ prevail.
