The government has secured P450 million to clear Botswana Railways debts, prioritising employee loan deductions after strike action paralysed operations
BONGANI MALUNGA
The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure has moved swiftly to contain the industrial unrest that has gripped Botswana Railways (BR), with Minister Noah Salakae confirming that the government has secured a P450 million funding package to clear the parastatal’s mounting creditor backlog, with workers’ unremitted loan deductions set to be addressed as a matter of urgency.
The intervention comes after two consecutive days of disruption at Botswana Railways, where workers staged protests over deductions that had been withheld from their salaries but were allegedly never remitted to banks and other third-party institutions. On Monday, employees locked the railway premises and downed tools before repeating the action on Tuesday morning, displaying letters of demand issued by lawyers representing commercial banks seeking repayment of overdue loans.
The protests highlighted growing frustration among employees who say they have been left exposed to legal action despite their monthly loan repayments being deducted from their salaries.
ACKNOWLEDGING THE SITUATION
Responding to the unrest in an interview with The Botswana Gazette, Salakae acknowledged the seriousness of the situation while noting that the dispute was fundamentally between Botswana Railways and its employees.
“As you may be aware there was an incident at BR yesterday with employee action as a result of letters of demand from the bank for employee loans that BR has not been servicing even though deductions from employee salary were made. This is an issue of BR and BR employees. At the time of this correspondence, I had not asked the BR leadership about whether or not they addressed the employees. I expect them to do that anyway as part of their daily leadership operation,” Salakae told this reporter.
However, the minister revealed that his ministry had already taken concrete steps to resolve the financial crisis underpinning the industrial action by securing funding from the Ministry of Finance.
IMMEDIATE SETTLEMENT
According to Salakae, the first tranche of the funding was expected to reach Botswana Railways on Tuesday, paving the way for immediate settlement of employee-related obligations.
“This notwithstanding, We have as a ministry helped to secure funding from the Ministry of Finance, We are expecting P39 million today (Tuesday) and the total approved was P450 million to be allocated through virement from other MTI votes. This is a major development to finally address this extremely difficult backlog of creditors and position BR much better for growth. The employee loan situation will be prioritised and addressed immediately,” Salakae explained.
The minister stated that the action is the first move in stabilising the financially troubled rail utility, whose operational challenges have increasingly spilled over into labour relations.