School sport talks collapse
Calistus Kolantsho | Saturday October 21, 2023 06:00
The three bodies met on October 8 in the presence of Minister Tumiso Rakgare but there was no progress. According to the minutes of the meeting, the MYSC's permanent secretary, Kitso Kemoeng chaired the meeting.
“In his opening statement, Kemoeng said he does not think we are the right body to be discussing issues of school sport since there are ongoing discussions that look at resuscitating the Bargaining Council, the view of the Public Service Act, and that school sport will return to the Ministry of Basic Education,” the meeting minutes read. Kemoeng informed the unions that the MYSC had been advised by the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM) not to negotiate with them on issues of school sport.
He told the meeting that he did not know anything about the proposal, which was presented to unions by the MYSC. “According to his knowledge, the proposal does not come from his office and he does not know anything about it. He boldly said that what is contained in the proposal from MYSC is against the policy of the ministry, as an accounting officer he will not engage in something that is against their policy on compensation of technical officials,” the minutes further read.
The document quotes Kemoeng as saying the negotiations with unions on the resumption of school sport have long collapsed or reached a deadlock and he has communicated that to Rakgare. Kemoeng advised that if unions do not agree with him, they could escalate the issue to any relevant office. The union party expressed disappointment at the conduct of the MYSC and stated that the behaviour of MYSC officials does not show any will or desire to resume school sport.
The background of the negotiations is that the MYSC and the two unions met in August where the ministry presented a proposal on school sport. It was agreed that Rakgare would forward the proposed model for 2023-2024 to BOSETU secretary-general, Tabokani Rari.
“Following the receipt of the document, BTU and BOSETU agreed to compose a joint union technical team that will look at the proposal to come up with a response proposal from unions.
The trade union party (BTU and BOSETU) met and compiled its proposal to the ministry and was forwarded to Rakgare on September 30,” BOSETU said through the minutes. BOSETU said the proposal from the unions detailed and comprised four models on how teachers or those taking part in school sport could be compensated and how activities could be administered.
The report also emphasised that the unions are open for negotiations so that an amicable solution could be found that would see the resumption of school sport.
The report was handed to MYSC on September 29, 2023. Meanwhile, as per the recommendations of the Joint Task Team on School Sport, the ministries of MYSC, Health, Local Government and Education should sign a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) on the role they will play in school sport. According to a source, there are fundamental issues within the Joint Task Team report other than teachers’ allowances. The report was submitted to MYSC in December 2022. Speaking recently, Rakgare indicated that school sport will return in January, but the collapse of the talks could put spanners in the works.