Botswana sacks striking health workers

Botswana sacks striking health workers
Funke Atohengbe, Pretoria

The government of Botswana has sacked all "essential" health workers who defied a court order to join an indefinite strike by public sector employees.

The fired personnel include doctors, nurses, pharmacists and cleaners who were employed in public hospitals and clinics and joined the month-old strike.

The Director of Public Service Management, Festinah Bakwena, declined to say how many workers had been fired.
  
Court order

A court ordered "essential services workers" to return to their duty posts on April 27 after some health workers joined the strike, forcing 27 clinics across the country to close.

Some workers had continued to defy the ruling even after a judge upheld it last week on appeal.

Botswana Federation of Public Sector Unions spokesperson, Goretse Kekgonegile, questioned whether the government would go through with the threat saying the Federation would protect its members.
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The government closed all public primary and secondary schools on Monday after violent clashes between police and students angry over the strike, which has caused most classes to be cancelled.

Unions are demanding a 16 percent salary increase, but the government says it cannot afford more than five percent.

Diamond-rich Botswana has been praised as an African success story for its economic stability and growth, but was hit hard by the global financial crisis as demand for its gems plunged and revenues from a regional customs union also dived.

Government employees, who have not had a salary increase in three years, complain their buying power is shrinking in the face of inflation that hit 8.5 percent in March.

Ekata