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Botswana: Bonela Demands HIV Employment Law
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Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)
13 March 2008
Posted to the web 13 March 2008
Thato Chwaane
The Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV/AIDS (BONELA) continues to advocate for an HIV employment law instead of a policy amidst allegations that some companies are testing people for HIV prior to employment.
The enactment of such a law would protect workers affected or infected by HIV/AIDS in the workplace.
A legal officer at BONELA, Uyapo Ndadi, said on Tuesday that since they served the Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Charles Tibone, with a petition for an enactment of the law last year, they have been told that the ministry is still working on a draft policy.
"A policy as we hear, cannot change the status quo. It is as good as nothing, as you cannot go to court using a policy," he said.
Ndadi said that it might be binding for the government but the private sector may disregard it 'willy nilly'.
He said no action can be taken against the private sector legally. He said that they do not need a policy to inform the law. He wondered why they did not follow the same route of the intelligence law, where there was never a policy. He said what they are advocating for are issues that are clear-cut.
In a local newspaper, the Assistant Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Gaotlhaetse Matlhabaphiri, is quoted as saying in Parliament that his ministry is aware that some employers test people for HIV prior to employment. He encourages those who do, including the diamond polishing and cutting companies, to desist from the practice.
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A statement from BONELA says that countries like Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola have long passed laws to prevent rampant HIV related discrimination at the workplace.
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