Africa-Press – Botswana. Maun North Member of Parliament, Mr Dumelang Saleshando says he will engage with safari employers and employees in different camps situated in the Okavango Delta to appreciate their challenges and see how best to address them.
This follows complaints of poor conditions of service raised by some safari employees during their meeting with the area MP recently.
MP Saleshando said he was aware of some complaints of poor working conditions in the safari industry as some employees decried ill-treatment by employers and that some were not complying with laws and policies.
He appreciated that some employers could be violating the laws because of lack of knowledge. He said some employers also complained about misconduct of some employees.
While he appreciated that it was the duty of the employer to ensure employees worked in a conducive environment, he also urged employees to introspect before the meeting and address their shortcomings.
“As much as we want employees’ condition of service to be improved, employees also should do self-introspection so that during our meeting, the issue of misconduct can be history,” he added.
Mr Saleshando also promised to engage with community trusts saying that issues of maladministration were a serious concern that prevented trusts from executing their mandate as expected.
His expectation, he said, was to see trusts, public servants and the community working as a team to come up with solutions to pressing issues and ensure growth in the tourism sector.
The MP underscored the need to empower community trusts to understand the value of products they had, adding that as custodians of natural resources, trusts should be seen making better profits for the benefit of the community.
He also stated that he was aware that the issue of human-wildlife conflict was a thorn in the flesh of members of the community.
He encouraged them not to view wildlife as enemies considering the economic benefits derived from them.
The community, he said, should understand wildlife had a lot of economic benefits emphasising that the country needed wildlife for tourism.
In addition, Mr Saleshando noted that wildlife resources created employment opportunities hence he urged residents to view the animals as something that could inspire generations to venture into tourism enterprises.
Meanwhile the MP urged public servants to up their game and ensure effective service delivery.
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