Botswana Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU) has urged government to improve labour laws or risk the union taking drastic measures to report it to the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

Responding to the budget speech by the Minister of Finance Peggy Serame, Secretary General of BFTU Thusang Butale explained that companies that come and invest in Botswana exploit the local workforce.

“This is a scenario which is perpetuated by the lax labour laws of the land,” Butale said, adding that for the business environment to improve the laws must not allow for exploitation and abuse of the workforce.

Butale said the nation aspires to be a high-income country by 2036, however the big question is whether all that is being done is leading Botswana on that path.

“The Public Service Act, the Trade Union and Employers’ Organisation Act, the Trade Dispute Act and Employment Act were all under review in 2021. The following year the Attorney General explained that the government has not prioritised labour laws," Butale said, further adding that new laws are passed whilst these laws are shelved.

Therefore, BFTU reported to ILO that the government is not prioritising labour laws as requested by ILO in 2018.

Butale said if government is prioritising the business environment, it needs to reform labour laws. Butale said that it is a critical area of development.

Furthermore, Butale noted that in other countries, the informal sector contributes around 70 percent of employment in other countries.

“The Ministry of Finance delivered a report which indicates that almost 21 percent of Batswana are poor.” He said that beyond this report there are people that are characterised as the working poor.

This category of people cannot build anything for themselves, they live from hand to mouth each month and therefore the first thing that needs to be addressed is wages. He said that in order for the nation to be developed, people need to be paid higher wages as this will give the masses the ability to spend monies.

Butale said because of high poverty rates, people cannot develop plots or build lives for themselves. It is only through high wages, that people will develop their lives.

Butale said that the budget speech fails to address issues of poor infrastructure that waste government monies with substandard buildings which bleed the government.

Botswana Informal Sector Association Secretary Tefo Basa explained that they feel they have been snubbed by government as they have tried working with them to improve the relationship with government.

Basa stated that the informal sector continues to grow due to retrenchments, new graduates and school dropouts. Furthermore, that the budget speech did not touch base on the challenges found in the informal sector and how they will be addressed. He said there is a lot of illicit trade happening yet the government is silent on such issues.

Basa said it is worrisome that there are no policies for the informal sector and this leads to people operating in unsafe and illegal spaces because they want to make ends meet. He added that government should stop imposing unfair laws that are not practical for small business owners.

He said that if government can work jointly with them, they can be able to build a conducive environment for job creation in the nation and help uplift the lives of Batswana.