A number of Batswana who are looking forward to the Michelle Obama visit are having the same bad dream. In it the United States first lady is met by a mob of youths who are angry with the government, stranded patients who cannot access medical help because doctors and nurses are on strike and students walking the streets because their schools have closed down due to the ongoing unrest.
This is not pure fantasy. Something similar may actually happen if the ongoing strike drags on until the end of the month when she is scheduled to arrive in Botswana. Ms Obama’s trip to South Africa and Botswana between June 21 and 26 will focus on “youth leadership, education, health and wellness” and will highlight President Barack Obama’s support for democracy and development in Africa, the White House said.
Obama may be confronted by the ugly face of the country’s health sector. Botswana is grappling with an unprecedented civil service strike which is taking a toll on medical care and has led to closure of a number of government hospitals and clinics.
The visit also coincides with Botswana’s burgeoning youth counterculture. The image of secondary school girls sporting fancy hairstyles hurling stones at police officers cowering behind plastic shields presents a picture of Botswana that is different to that upheld by the international community. Following clashes between police and angry students demonstrating over the interruption in their studies, the Minister of Education, Pelonomi Venson Moitoi was forced to close government and private sector schools indefinitely, saying she was acting to safeguard students, staff and government property. Diplomats whose children go to private schools in Gaborone started asking questions. The schools were however re-opened late last month, although government has not been able to contain sporadic eruptions of violence.
Indications are that things may get worse before they get better.
Recent efforts by former presidents, church leaders and members of the business community to broker peace between the striking workers and government on Monday collapsed and the strike entered its seventh week.
The unions had agreed to a three percent salary adjustment upwards on condition that government removes the No-Work-No-Pay stipulation and reinstatements the over 2,000 dismissed essential service workers. This was supported by the joint party parliamentary caucus.
The National Assembly called for the reinstatement of essential service workers who were recently sacked for allegedly failing to respect an Industrial Court judgment, which urged them to return to work.
“That as part of the settlement, the Government is requested to set aside its decision to dismiss the striking workers who were classified essential services and that in a spirit of magnanimity, the workers are requested to end the strike action,” reads a statement from the Speaker of Parliament Margaret Nasha.
Government has however rejected the conditions placed on the three percent by the unions insisting that a reinstatement of the dismissed essential service workers would be an assault on the rule of law since the workers disregarded a court order to return to work.
As a result of failure by the government and unions to reach an agreement, public facilities like schools, clinics and hospitals have either closed or operate below capacity, leading to loss of time by the learners and, in the case of health facilities, loss of lives.
Ms Obama’s visit to Botswana which will focus on education, health and wellness is a continuation of her campaign to engage young people at home and abroad to encourage them to excel academically. With Botswana’s public schools running behind the syllabus and some schools closed, Ms Obama may come across as a fish out of water during her visit here.
