30 Jan 2025

The standoff between Botswana Nurses Union (BONU) and the Ministry of Health over the ‘call to duty’ cannot be addressed through reverting the matter back to the Bargaining Council, says the union’s president, Mr Peter Baleseng.

He expressed this view during a media briefing yesterday that the standoff was an issue above the Bargaining Council’s parameters. 

“There is no logic in that. We have been through the process and we can never go back,” Mr Baleseng said. 

He said when the matter started, the two parties agreed to disagree hence BONU referred the matter to the Department of Labour, followed by the Industrial Court and subsequently the Court of Appeal, which also ruled in their favour. 

Therefore, he said BONU was standing on the ambit of the Court of Appeal decision, which described the nurses and midwives ‘call to duty’ as both active call and non-active call. 

He said nurses and midwives were only compensated under the active call, and the ministry had been dragging its feet to address non-active calls, although the court had declared that nurses and midwives were free to engage in their activities when on non-active calls. 

He said the union could not take back to the Bargain Council an issue that the court has already determined. 

“It has gone through all the stages,” Mr Baleseng said, stating that it was puzzling that the Ministry was paying drivers and doctors for non-active calls and excluded the nurses and midwives from the dispensation. 

He said if the Ministry was desirous of addressing the issue, it must engage with nurses and midwives and pay for their labour. 

Mr Baleseng said it was the position of the union that nurses and midwives were free to engage in any activity during their non-active call. 

He pointed that BONU was giving the ministry 30 days to have started negotiations geared towards addressing the standoff. 

BONU first vice president for Labour and Bargaining, Mr Oreeditse Kelebakgosi said there was never an agreement between the union and government to refer the matter to the Bargaining Council. 

He accused the Ministry of Health of neglecting the welfare of nurses and midwives. 

The second vice president, Mr Vusa Phena said the union was not in any way calling for nurses and midwives to strike, adding that Botswana nurses and midwives are well trained and professional. ENDS