The ICEM is calling on President Mogae to meet and begin concerted social dialogue with the Botswana Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU) and leaders of its affiliates to correct a rapidly eroding labour climate in the southern African nation. The ICEM has also called upon DeBeers, joint-venture partner with the government in Debswana, to step in to do its part to resolve the festering dispute.

In a 3 October letter to DeBeers Managing Director Gary Ralfe, ICEM Fred Higgs wrote, “Some 461 workers have been fired, many forcibly evicted from company-owned housing, their children denied entrance to company-subsidized schools, themselves, in many cases, blackballed from other employment, and now Debswana managers appear to be on a destructive and lethal course against a free and democratic trade union,” referring here to the company’s refusal now to recognize ICEM-affiliated BMWU even though the government has certified the union.

In August 2004, some 500 of Debswana’s 7,000 employees struck over a severe pay disparity. In the days leading up to the strike, the government had declared any potential strike an illegal one, using powers it had gained only months before through labour reform legislation.

In asking DeBeer’s Managing Director Gary Ralfe to involve himself directly in a “true spirit of fairness and compassion,” Higgs commented on the inherent unfairness and damage an enterprise such as Debswana can have on the social and political landscape of Botswana: “The shaping of law in a free and democratic society comes through judicial interpretations. Last year’s Industrial Court decision, and then Debswana’s harsh and retaliatory subsequently taken against leaders and trade union members of BMWU, has left a perilous situation on all industrial relations in Botswana.”

The ICEM, with over 400 affiliates in 125 countries, calls on President Mogae of Botswana to respond to trade union leaders’ petitions for a different path regarding labour relations in the country, and for constructive dialogue to begin. The ICEM calls on DeBeers to assert itself over the enterprise’s refusal to recognize BMWU, and to reinstate the 461 in an act of reconciliation and a constructive future.