BOFESETE
stands for Botswana Federation of Secondary Teachers. It is
a secondary school Teachers staff association. Its main aims
are to improve the living and working conditions of secondary
school Teachers as well as to improve the education system
in Botswana. Concerned secondary school Teachers who felt
BTU was not doing enough in articulating secondary school
Teachers’ concerns formed BOFESETE in 1986 at Sedibelo
motel in Mochudi.
The
early years
Some
of the early National Executive members include G. Phorano,
L. Setei, S. Mfolwe, O. Gabasiane, T. Mbuya, W. Sentshebeng,
C. Koveya, K. Pilane, T. Koodirile, S Walebowa, B.Z. Tlale,
S. Sechele, Ms Lesetedi and R.Boitshwarelo. The BOFESETE constitution
was approved in 1987 by the Registrar of Societies and since
then BOFESETE has been operating as a duly registered organisation.
During this early period, the organisation was very vocal
in articulating Teachers concerns. On the other hand, the
authorities saw the articuation as militancy and radicalism.
Some Government officials, especially in Education, were not
comfortable with the organisation and they started to frustrate
the efforts of the members, particularly the leadership. Despite
all these, Teachers rallied behind BOFESETE and it went on
to advocate their problems like housing, non-payment of sportsmasters/mistress
and claims of CJSS Teachers when attending workshops.
Early
rapid years
The
progressive stand of BOFESETE earned it instant support from
the Teachers. The Federation grew in leaps and bounds. Actually,
at the second National congress in 1988 the National Chairperson
announced that the target membership of 500 had been reached.
Relationship
with Ministry of Education
The
radical stance and progressive nature of BOFESETE that was
applauded by Teachers was received negatively by government
and the top brass of the MOE in particular. They saw the arrival
of BOFESETE as challenge to status quo. They regarded it as
a threat to the existence of the “conservative”
BTU. They regarded BOFESETE as divisive and sectarian. It
was this attitude that was to prevail among Ministry officials
throughout those turbulent years. As a result the ministry
refused to grant BOFESETE official recognition. This, however
did not dampen the spirits of the teaching fraternity. This
intransigence by government represented by the MOE made the
BOFESETE leadership more determined to represent the Teachers.
The refusal by government to grant official recognition meant
that BOFESETE could not be availed the stop order facility
to allow members to subscribe directly from source. This rendered
the federation weak as it did not have a constant source of
income and hence could not operate efficiently. This was to
become the federation’s “Achilles heel”
for many years to come.
The 1987 strike
This
heavy handedness on the part of Government did not stop BOFESETE
from articulating the problems of the Teachers. In December
1987, Teachers led by BOFESETE complained about low marking
fees and conditions at marking venues. The MOE officials that
was used to dealing with unorganised Teachers refused to listen
to the Teachers’ demands. The result was that Teachers
went on strike and refused to mark JC scripts. The strike
was a great success for BOFESETE as it showed its strength.
(This is however a sad chapter in the history of education
in this country. It could have been avoided had communication
lines been opened).
Loss
of leadership
During
the period 1989-1990 BOFESETE lost a good number of its leaders
who left teaching for better jobs. Among these were G. Phorano
and L. Seitei. The MOE also embarked on some destabilising
tactics that saw the vibrant organisation tumbling to the
ground. The BOFESETE constitution then had a clause that forbid
Deputy Heads and School Heads from being elected into the
National Executive committee. This clause backfired as MOE
officials promoted some members of the executive committee
to deputy and headship posts. Others were transferred to rural
areas where there was poor communication network in roads
and telecommunication. Other leaders who left in the early
90’s for greener pastures included O. Gabasiane (National
Chairperson), T. Mbuya, W Sentshebeng, C. Koveya, K. Pilane
and T. Koodirile. There was a leadership vacuum as some Teachers
also went into hiding fearing victimisation.
BOFESETE
in the mid 90’s
From
1995, Teachers in the Tswapong region under the leadership
of colleagues like messrs Mbanga Mbanga, Justin Hunyepa, Marcos
Maedza, Gideon Nkala, Ms Agnes Meisie Mogwasa and others worked
hard to resuscitate their region (In fact prior to this, the
Teachers were contemplating to form an organisation unaware
of BOFESETE existence). The skeletal national leadership that
was left of Mr RR Boitshwarelo, Mr BZ Tlale and Ms Lesetedi
got inspired by their efforts and got in touch with them to
compliment each other. Through the efforts of the remaining
members of the National Executive, the Tswapong Committee
and other individuals in the North East, a general meeting
was called at Lotsane Senior in Palapye in 1997. An executive
was elected with the following office bearers:
Chairman:
Messrs B. Z. Tlale
Vice-chair:
M. Mbanga
Secretary
General: R. R. Boitshwarelo
Vice-Secretary
General: L. Dodzi-Botsie
Publicity
Secretary: J. C. Hunyepa
Treasurer:
Ms. A. Motswakgalagadi
Recording
Secretary: Ms. A. Sebopelo
Additional
Members: Messrs E. C. L. Ditau, Mr. G. Nkala and Mr. K.
Kautozu
This
was the turning point in the history of BOFESETE as it marked
the beginning of the rebirth of the Federation.
Re-launching
After
the 1997 elections, there was more groundwork to be done.
First and foremost was the need to get the stop-order facility
from government. Members were paying their subscriptions over
the table and then issued with a membership booklet (the size
of our current passport). This type of subscription was not
effective since it was not centralised and did not assist
the organisation to make some savings. The only best and most
effective way was to get subscriptions from the membership
through an established government stop-order facility. This
would enable the organisation to get the subscriptions direct
from source through Accountant General. The government knew
how powerful BOFESETE would be to have such a facility at
its disposal. Repeated attempts by BOFESETE to get the facility
fell on deaf eyes. BOFESETE had to make an all out campaign
to get this facility.
It
was in 1998 that one insurance company, Libra Insurance Agency,
of Mr. Ivan Kleynhans joined the fray. The company was to
create job opportunities for Batswana. It was ready to start
off by selling its policies to BOFESETE members. For this
to take-off, BOFESETE had to have a stop-order facility for
deduction purposes. The pressure exerted by the alliance of
BOFESETE and Libra Insurance Agency bore results as government
finally acceded to our request. The Government then asked
BOFESETE to bring a minimum of 200 members for the new stop-order
facility to kick off. It was quite a challenge for BOFESETE
to come up with such a number within a short period of time
due to the nature of our work. Libra Insurance Agency came
to our rescue as it had employees on the ground who then managed
to recruit Teachers for the new registration. The stop-order
facility was launched in April 1999. The facility is working
very well now and existing members who have not registered
with the new system should do so as well as the new members.
