Botswana Integrated Sports Association (BISA) is yet to pay teachers for their assigned duties during the athletics national championships that were held at Francistown sports complex between February and April this year.
According to an anonymous source, BISA leadership visited teachers in schools informing them that they have proposed and agreed with the government for athletics allowance payment in four stages.
The payment forms that the teachers were supposed to be paid at the time was P1,000 ,sub zonal was P1,200, Zonal competitions P1,400 and nationals at P1,600. The total owed to individual teacher is P6,200.
“BISA mentioned that they did not have money and teachers were reassured that Ministry of Basic Education (MOBE) was processing their payments which were supposed to be in February during the first stages of the competition,” the source said.
“Between May and June, BISA said they had delays and recently they confirmed that they are still facing delays however the agreement was that it would be paid per stage,” the source continued.
The source revealed that about eight schools in the south zone did not take part because of uncertainty that lies with payment issues.
The teachers are also complaining that BISA did not consult with them when they negotiated, reasoning that they have teachers unions which should have been invited to bargain for them as the association does not bargain for the welfare of teachers.
In an interview with BISA President Joshua Gaotlhobogwe he said an amount of 11.5 million has been credited to BISA to cater for the athletics allowance that is owed to the teachers.
He said that BISA received the money about three days ago and has submitted the credentials so payments can be expected from as early as this upcoming week.
Gaotlhobogwe said he cannot state the exact date of when will all the teachers be paid as financial issues take time to be processed.
Gaotlhobogwe concluded that the athletics allowance is in varying figures since teachers had different duties during the competitions. He explained that teachers are supposed to get money through his association but the logistics of the government delayed payments since the money goes through MOBE for approval before it is disbursed into the BISA account.
