Abstract
Labour disputes in the workplace often lead to disruptions and unrest and could potentially result in substantial economic losses amounting to billions in revenue, if not addressed promptly. In the case of Botswana, the existing labour dispute resolution mechanism is characterised by a pronounced lack of independence and a high degree of ineffectiveness. Currently housed within a government department, the system has proven inadequate to resolve trade disputes, leading to a considerable accumulation of unresolved cases and contributing to a severe backlog at the Industrial Court. In light of these prevailing challenges, this study sought to examine the possibilities of establishing an appropriate labour dispute resolution framework within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, with a particular emphasis on Botswana.
Therefore, the objectives of the study were to: establish the effectiveness of Botswana's dispute resolution system; understand the challenges it faces; appraise different dispute resolution systems in the SADC region to identify best practices for Botswana; and to determine whether international labour standards and current trends in global labour relations could optimise Botswana's labour dispute resolution system to become one of the leading models in the SADC region. The study is a qualitative study, which adopted an exploratory research design anchored within an interpretivist phenomenological research strategy. A purposive sampling technique was employed to select participants from the SADC region for the study. Data was collected, using virtual semi-structured interviews, which were primarily conducted via electronic media.
The findings revealed polarising perspectives on the system's effectiveness, with most of the participants considering it to be ineffective owing to structural obstacles, a perceived lack of independence, and implementation issues. In other words, while a structured mediation framework exists, its effectiveness is deemed to be low. Key issues cited include a lack of political will, a lack of autonomy, limited budgetary resources, low utilisation of technology, insufficient staffing and unqualified personnel, resulting in delays and inefficiencies. Moreover, the system's integration within the government structure raises questions around partiality...