Two Titans, One Throne: The Duel for Control of Botswana’s Public Sector

Those with intimate knowledge of trade unionism affairs can actually tell that bullets from the manual workers union were orchestrated by veteran unionist and former leader of the NACLPMWU – Johnson Motshwarakgole - who currently serves as its consultant and advisor. Once Motshwarakgole’s blue-eyed boy and protégé, Motsamai, at some point in his trade unionism career, had a fallout with Motshwarakgole as a result of differing opinions. The fallout is once again depicted in the current tussle for control of the most powerful organ defining the public service. To understand the significance and power behind the PSBC Secretary position, it is key to understand that Botswana's Public Sector Bargaining Council (PSBC) functions as the central, legal framework for negotiations between the government and public sector unions, aimed at setting salaries, benefits, and working conditions. Recently revived in 2025, it aims to prevent disputes, promote fair labor relations, and ensure collective agreements are enforced. Under Collective Bargaining, the PSBC Secretary will lead in negotiating, concluding, and enforcing agreements on salary increases, public service conditions of service, and employee welfare. The Secretariat will also tackle conflict resolution, playing a crucial role in preventing disputes and managing labor tensions before they lead to industrial action. He will also facilitate formal, structured communication between the government (employer) and trade unions to foster trust and improve efficiency. The council also serves as the approved platform for negotiations, reducing reliance on direct, one-on-one engagement and fostering cooperation in line with international labor standards. BATTLE FOR CONTROL OF THE PSBC It all began on the fateful day of 27 January 2026. NACLPMWU, like any other recognised trade union, received a written invitation to attend a meeting scheduled for 30th January 2026. The stated purpose of the meeting was to discuss the possible appointment of a Secretary of the PSBC. According to a written affidavit by NACLPMWU Deputy CEO Rabasimane, he thought the meeting was ‘only consultative’, particularly given that the PSBC has not yet been duly constituted in accordance with its Constitution and therefore lacked the legal capacity to take binding decisions. Interestingly, however, Government, represented by DPSM, wanted the Secretary to be appointed on the same day, through the process of a secret ballot. Prior to that meeting, NACLPMWU had indicated their intention to nominate Tobokani Rari to be appointed Secretary of the PSBC. NACLPMWU, at the time, thought it had the full backing of other trade unions. To NACLPMWU’s surprise, DPSM at the same meeting nominated Andrew Motsamai as its preference for the PSBC Secretariat, which to NACLPMWU and Rabasimane was a surprise. While NACLPMWU had hopes that trade unions would vote for Rari, tables turned and the majority votes favored Motsamai, former President of BOPEU and Executive Chairman of Babereki Investments. This baffled NACLPMWU, leading them to file on an urgent basis an interdiction application seeking to restrain and interdict DPSM, Attorney General, Botswana Teachers Union (BTU), Botswana Public Employees Union (BOPEU), Botswana Sectors of Educators Trade Union (BOSETU), Botswana Land Boards Local Authorities and Health Workers (BLLAHWU), Botswana Nurses Union (BONU), Botswana Doctors Union (BDU), PSBC itself as well as Andrew Motsamai in his personal capacity, from implementing, giving effect to or acting upon a decision to appoint Motsamai as Secretary of the Public Sector Bargaining Council, pending the review proceedings in which NACLPMWU intends to challenge the lawfulness of Motsamai’s appointment. The case was filed on the 1st of February 2026. NACLPMWU further sought to have the office of the Secretary of the PSBC properly advertised to the general public and within the public service. Rabasimane argues that on the 30th of January, NACLPMWU attended the meeting in good faith and with the reasonable understanding that the engagement was consultative only, particularly given that the PSBC had not yet been fully constituted in accordance with its constitution and therefore lacked the legal capacity to take binding decisions. He adds that during the meeting, DPSM abruptly insisted that the Secretary be appointed on the same day and proposed that the appointment be determined by secret ballot. To him, this proposal was patently unlawful and directly contradicted the PSBC constitution. He adds that, compounding this illegality, DPSM further sought to preside over the purported election without the involvement of any independent or neutral body, thereby positioning itself simultaneously as proposer, voter, and arbiter of the process. According to Rabasimane, NACLPMWU and other trade unions immediately objected on the grounds that the meeting was not that of a fully constituted Council and therefore lacked decision-making authority. He also said the power to appoint the Secretary vests with the Council, not in an ad hoc meeting convened by DPSM. Proceeding with the grounds for objection, he adds that the PSBC Constitution mandates consensus, not majority rule. He adds, moreover, that no agreement has been reached on the terms and conditions of employment, including remuneration, tenure, job description, or reporting lines, rendering any purported appointment premature and unlawful. He also questioned the legality of DPSM’s casting vote. He also states that Motsamai left BOPEU under a cloud of controversy. What Rabasimane states in his affidavit is heavily disputed by Martin Gabobake, President of BOPEU. On the 2nd of February 2026, Gabobake filed an answering affidavit on behalf of BOPEU, BOSETU, BLLAHWU, BONU, and BDU. He states that the current PSBC is not a new phenomenon in Botswana’s labor relations ecosystem. Following the 2011 public sector strike, Gabobake notes that a PSBC was formulated by law and was operationalised, with objectives and powers almost the same as the present PSBC. He further avers that in 2012, when the initial PSBC was formulated and operationalised, the Employer party and the Union party agreed to appoint the Secretariat of the Council prior to the first meeting of the PSBC. Gabobake says the appointment of the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of the PSBC was a necessary step in the operationalisation of the PSBC, given the central role of the Secretary in convening the Council and the general work of the Council. Moreover, he recalls that the Employer and the Union party at the time agreed that Wilfred Ulaula be appointed Secretary while Shandukani Hlabano deputised him. By laying down what happened at the previous PSBC, Gabobake wanted the court to appreciate that the current process of appointing Andrew Motsamai and Tobokani Rari as Interim Secretary and Deputy Secretary, respectively, did not depart from what obtained in the initial PSBC. He further highlights the fact that at the meeting of the 30th January 2026, the deponent of the founding Affidavit, Robert Rabasimane, was not in attendance. “I attended the aforesaid meeting from start to finish and can attest to the fact that Mr. Rabasimane was not in attendance, yet he purports to speak about what occurred at the meeting. With advice from our attorneys, I aver that Mr. Rabasimane’s affidavit is riddled with inadmissible hearsay. He does not inform the Honourable Court of his sources who informed him of what transpired at the meeting. On this basis alone, I aver that the portions that are hearsay must be struck out,” says Gabobake. The initial PSBC was dissolved in 2017 following a protracted legal battle between DPSM and trade unions. After the PSBC was registered in 2025, a need arose to operationalise the PSBC. Gabobake says for the PSBC to be operational, it must first admit parties to it. In terms of Clause 7.1 of the Constitution, “parties to the Bargaining Council are Government in its capacity as employer and all trade unions admitted to the Bargaining Council”. He further states that for a trade union to be a party to the Council, it must first be admitted to the Council. His argument is that a trade union cannot be admitted into the Council unless it submits certain documents forming part of the application. He further states that Clause 8.3 of the Constitution empowers the Secretary to verify the list of membership figures submitted by an applicant trade union and advise the Council on the outcome of the application by a trade union. In his answering affidavit, Gabobake states that, as advised by his attorneys, the plain reading of the above Clauses indicates that before the Council can seat, as contemplated by the PSBC Constitution, they must first elect a person who shall be called a Secretary. Without a Secretary in office, Gabobake argues that there can never be a trade union admitted to the Bargaining Council. Moreover, without a Secretary, he says no trade union can ever apply for membership of the Bargaining Council. He adds further that without a Secretary, there can never be a trade union admitted to the Bargaining Council. Moreover, without a Secretary, he says no trade union can ever apply for membership of the Bargaining Council. He adds further that without a Secretary, there can never be a meeting of the PSBC. “It is in these imperatives amongst others, that the Employer party and the Trade Unions, jointly agreed to establish a Reference Committee to deal with the establishment and operationalisation of the PSBC,” he notes. The reference Committee undertook steps to operationalise the PSBC by establishing the Joint Secretariat with clear terms of reference, appointing the Secretary of the Council on an interim basis pending ratification by the Council (once constituted). In Gabobake’s view, NACLPMWU is being evasive in suggesting that the purpose of the 30th January meeting was to discuss the possible appointment of a Secretary of the PSBC. He rather argues that even the invitation letter sent out to all trade unions was titled ‘INVITATION TO A MEETING ON THE APPOINTMENT OF THE PUBLIC SECTOR BARGAINING COUNCIL SECRETARY’. He says that from the title, it is clear that NACLPMWU was invited to a meeting on the appointment of the PSBC Secretary. Gabobake further states that the contents of the invitation also state that the appointment of the Secretary will assist the parties in expediting the operationalisation of the PSBC. After receiving the invitation, Gabobake says NACLPMWU never objected to the lawfulness of the meeting to discuss the appointment of the Secretary. He further says NACLPMWU, represented by Motseothata Gopane, Bofelo Dimpa and Simon Kgaogano, was happy to attend the meeting with full knowledge that the meeting was not a meeting of the Council as contemplated by the PSBC Constitution. He also notes that NACLPMWU is fully aware that it is not a party to the PSBC as it has not been admitted to the Council and could not therefore exercise any power of the Council under Clause 5 of the PSBC Constitution. More interestingly, Gabobake says NACLPMWU, at the meeting, was happy with the proposed agenda without any objection. “It must be noted that prior to the meeting of the 30th of January 2026, the Applicant nominated Mr Tobokani Rari to be Secretary of the PSBC. The nomination of Mr Rari was sponsored by the Applicant and submitted to the Reference Committee for consideration. If the Reference Committee was not entitled to appoint a Secretary of the PSBC to operationalise the PSBC, pending ratification by the first meeting of the Council, why did the Applicant nominate and submit the name of Mr. Tobokani Rari to the Reference Committee to be considered as Secretary?” Gabobake avers that NACLPMWU only soils the work and decision of the reference Committee because its preferred nominee was not appointed as Secretary to the PSBC. “I so aver because the Applicant was happy to attend the meeting and participate therein until it became clear that its nominee would not get the nod for the appointment as Secretary. It is only after this realisation that the Applicant started throwing tantrums and staging a voluntary walk-out,” noted the BOPEU President. Contrary to Rabasimane’s affidavit, other trade unions did not indicate an intention to nominate Rari as Secretary. In actual fact, he notes that NACLPMWU submitted Rari’s name on the 7th of April 2025. Gabobake believes that had Rari been appointed Secretary to the PSBC (as he was NACLPMWU’s preferred candidate), NACLPMWU would not have instituted the current proceedings. Rabasimane had mentioned in his founding affidavit that the union party raised concerns about Motsamai and his alleged history at BOPEU, but Gabobake says the union party has never raised any objections about either Motsamai or the process of appointment itself. He notes that when Motsamai left the Presidency of BOPEU in December 2016, he had no issues with the union pertaining to financial impropriety. According to Gabobake, it is indisputable that NACLPMWU is currently not an admitted member of the PSBC within the contemplation of Clause 3.2 and Clause 8 of the PSBC Constitution. Without being an admitted member of the PSBC, he says NACLPMWU cannot purport to enforce any rights that accrue to the members of the PSBC. He submits that unless and until NACLPMWU is admitted to the PSBC as required by Clause 7.1 of the Constitution, it cannot purport to exercise or protect any rights that accrue under the PSBC Constitution. He further avers that NACLPMWU’s prejudice is palpable. He notes that Respondent unions need the PSBC functional and operationalised in order to submit applications to members of the Council and commence a structured and organised collective bargaining with the Employer party. He adds that the existing collective bargaining arrangements have proven inefficient and dispute-riddled, hence the urgent need to operationalise the PSBC. The urgent operationalisation of the PSBC will ensure that the Council deals with pending issues such as the FAN-Shape salary structure and the Health sector conditions of services to finality. He says these are issues of immense public interest that require a formal bargaining structure such as the PSBC. Gabobake states that any delay to the operationalisation of the PSBC will be fatal.

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Two Titans, One Throne: The Duel for Control of Botswana’s Public Sector

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