‘I am listening to the real president, real one, not these fake presidents of Africa,” said a young man in his mid-20s who usually works as a bus conductor, as he twiddled the controls of a small TV set.
He was among the people gathered under a makeshift shelter to watch the France 24 news channel on the television operated by a fruit vendor at the Gaborone bus rank. His friend, the vendor, listened with him to US President Barrack Obama’s speech on the Middle East democratic uprisings. Whether or not they understood the whole message that Obama was conveying is a matter for another day.
But they got the gist and felt the message of support from Obama to the oppressed. The two young men reflected the mood of the citizens of Botswana who are frustrated at the latest developments in their country, once dubbed Africa’s beacon of democracy.
Now it has been semi-paralysed by a wildcat national strike for nearly a month. And on the same social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, which helped to bring down the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia, Batswana people are calling on President Ian Khama to set a true example – and step down.
They castigated him for not addressing the nation since the beginning of the country’s biggest ever strike which began 34 days ago, and for preventing the dominant state-owned media BTV, Radio Botswana (1 and 2) and the Daily News from reporting anything but the barest outline of what is happening. And then only one side of the story – that the strike has had no impact on service delivery.
An obvious distortion, since ordinary people are increasingly feeling the impact of the union actions, as scores of doctors and nurses have been fired from state hospitals, public schools have been closed and rioting and destructive looting are spreading trough the country’s outlying villages.
Eventually bowing to rising public pressure, the state-owned Botswana television, which some have renamed BDP TV (after the ruling Botswana Democratic Party) this week broadcast Khama’s speech to the High Level Consultative Council, a biannual meeting of senior civil servants and the private sector, explaining why the government could not implement the demands of civil servant unions.
The president outlined several projects the government was undertaking, some of which began last year, that needed to be completed. He also said the government was facing a seven billion pula (R7bn) budget deficit, which they want to settle before the next financial year.
Khama accused opposition politicians of inciting the striking civil servants and students to destroy government property.
The strike began with a demand from unions – especially the Botswana Federation of Public Service Unions, boasting a membership of more than 100 000 – for a salary increase of 16 percent, on the grounds that public servants had had not had a pay hike for three years and that inflation had seriously eroded their purchasing power.
The government offered only 5 percent, and that conditional on an improvement in September of the country’s economy, still reeling from the impact of the global recession.
After numerous court clashes between the government and the unions during the strike, the industrial court made an order last week that essential workers should go back to work – which they defied.
A few days later, on Monday, the government shut down public schools and on Tuesday announced that it had sacked all doctors and nurses involved in the strike.
That aggravated the problem as many essential workers who had not yet participated in the strike also then downed tools to show solidarity with their colleagues.
By Wednesday at least four major hospitals were reduced to less than 10 percent of their staff.
At least 10 doctors and 22 nurses in Princess Marina were said to have joined the strike, prompting reports that the hospitals would not be admitting patients anymore.
These developments prompted yet another round of negotiations between the government and the unions on Thursday afternoon in which the government changed its offer from 5 percent conditional to 3 percent. The unions rejected that too and the strike continued.
Leader of the opposition, Botsalo Ntuane, said he was mobilising opposition MPs and even backbenchers of the ruling BDP, to call for an urgent parliamentary meeting this week to try to end the strike.
He said in an interview that the MPs were trying to find a quick solution to the problem because it was obvious that the executive was failing.
Ntuane said the MPs had the power to channel funds from other projects and programmes to resolve the crisis.
“We are in an undeclared state of emergency,” he lamented.
The education system has collapsed after students themselves went on the rampage, smashing windows and looting shops in outlying villages, especially Ramotswa, Mochudi, Thamaga, Molepolole, and Mogoditshane. – Independent Foreign Service