Court rescues dumped workers

The Francistown Industrial Court judge Galesite Baruti has ordered Diesel Power Botswana to pay the 132 workers it dumped late last year their salaries and other benefits for the months of October and November.

The order follows an urgent application filed by the workers to the Francistown Industrial court after the company failed to show up for a labour hearing in Sowa town on November 9, 2015. The former employees have since been paid their October and November salaries except for severance benefits and living allowances, for which they now intend to approach the courts again to challenge.

One of the former workers told The Midweek Sun  this week that the salaries for November are questionable as there are no payslips to reflect how they were arrived at including deductions. “We are currently planning to lodge yet another complaint with the labour office since our employers have not managed to fulfil all the requirements of the court order,” he said.

The workers’ woes began last year October when their employer failed to pay them their living allowances and monthly salaries citing unavailability of cash. The company managers later skipped the country to South Africa leaving the workers in the lurch.