The Government of Botswana has amended its laws in order to make it illegal for teachers to go on strike. The move comes as the government decided to re-classify teachers as ‘essential services’ and therefore making it illegal for teachers to withdraw their labour.
Other workers included in the new laws are people working in the diamond industry and veterinary services. This decision comes after a period of strike action by teachers and other civil servants has been suspended pending talks. The teachers had been on strike to demand a living wage – having had no pay increase for three years despite difficult economic conditions where inflation in Botswana is running at 27 per cent. Many commentators in Botswana fear for the future of democracy in the country as people’s basic freedoms are attacked. During the recent strike the government used the army and police personnel to replace teachers in some schools in contravention of the country’s industrial relations laws. EI’s Chief Regional Coordinator for Africa, Assibi Napoe, said: “Just as in Australia and the US, teaching unions are under attack as governments seek to balance their books by making public services and particularly education pay for budget deficits for which neither they nor the users of public services are responsible. This is not the right course of action for a shared solution to the financial difficulties being experienced in any country.”