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For the past month and half, the diamond-rich southern African country has been partially paralysed by a national public servants industrial strike, which might have a huge negative economic and social impact in the long run.

As one travels with public transport and visit public places around the capital Gaborone, the most talked about issue is the ongoing strike: some support the government, while others sympathise with the workers. On social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, which helped to bring down the leaders of Arab countries in recent uprisings, citizens are already calling for President Ian Khama's resignation.

The leaders of trade unions and opposition parties believe that Khama has not been forthcoming since the beginning of the industrial strike.

They criticise him for having failed to address the nation since the beginning of the country's first industrial strike. As much as Khama has convinced Africa and the rest of the world that he is a democrat with zero tolerance for dictators, doubts still linger back home about his democratic credentials.

He has been accused by both opposition parties, some sections of society and workers' unions for barring the dominant state-owned media Botswana Television, Radio Botswana and state newspaper Daily News from reporting on the ongoing strike. "We now rely on the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and resource-challenged Botswana private media to reach out to people", said Goretetse Kekgonegile, spokesperson of the Botswana Federation of Public Sector Unions.

However, Khama has also accused opposition politicians of inciting the striking civil servants and students to destroy government property. Public schools have been closed indefinitely following the riots and violence that erupted at some schools. 

This week, two more union leaders were arrested and detained by the police for what they said was "inciting violence". The arrest has brought to three the total of union leaders arrested since the beginning of the strike.

On the other hand, Khama's office has ordered the government negotiators, the Department of Public Service Management, to halt negotiations with union leaders until workers return to work. Union leaders and workers have vowed to stay away from their jobs until their demands are met. 

"Who has given the government the sole right to suspend talks? They cannot force us to go back to work because they did not force us to go on strike in the first instance," said Kekgonegile in an interview.

In the meantime, Botsalo Ntuane, who left the ruling party to form the leading opposition party in parliament, says he is mobilising other opposition members of parliament and some backbenchers of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), to call for an urgent parliamentary meeting to try to end the strike.

"The MPs will try to find a quick solution to the problem because the executive seems to be failing," he said.

Another opposition party leader, Duma Boko of the Botswana National Front (BNF), said Khama had refused to meet with the opposition leaders and had instead "given funny excuses".

"This shows that this man is undermining this country," Boko said, adding that Khama should step down because he had failed to deliver on the principles he enunciated when he was inaugurated as president in 2008.

Some ruling party MPs have also shown their sympathy for the workers as they continue to address them across the country.

However, the big question that remains to be answered is whether the Botswana strike will become another Egyptian-style uprising?