Tsogwane rebukes Majaga on President Election
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Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) Chairman and Vice President Slumber Tsogwane is reported to have reproached Nata/Gweta legislator Polson Majaga for tabling a motion calling for a referendum on direct election of the president without consulting the party leadership.
Tsogwane is said to have been directed by President Mokgweetsi Masisi last week to meet privately with the maverick MP to talk about the motion. Those close to the developments say the agenda was to ask Majaga to withdraw the motion since Masisi had made it clear that he was against the referendum on direct election of the president. Tsogwane however tried unsuccessfully to meet with the MP. "I have even tried to send him an SMS but he did not respond," Tsogwane told parliament last week shortly before the motion was passed.
Tsogwane further told parliament that he had wanted to engage Majaga and advise him on the motion, but said it was clear that Majaga was not interested. This week Tsogwane is said to have tongue lashed Majaga over his manner in disrespecting the party leadership request to meet him. Moreover, it is said the VP was irked by the MP’s decision to snub the party caucus at which the leadership rejected the motion despite gaining support from majority of legislators including some cabinet ministers.
“We should respect each other especially the leadership of our party as it also respects you (MPs). We have requested to meet with Honorable Majaga but all our attempts failed because he was not willing to see us. But to this end we encourage you MPs to heed our calls because whatever we do here is for the interest of the party and Batswana at large,” Tsogwane reportedly told party legislators.
Minister of Basic Education Bagalatia Arone who is said to be a close ally of Majaga was sent to sweet-talk his buddy into withdrawing the motion failing which he will ask him to meet Tsogwane, a source told this publication. Meanwhile Majaga is reported to have remained resolute and was not ready to accept the idea of withdrawing the motion.
“Some believe it would have been suicidal for him to agree to meet with the leadership as they were going to press him to withdraw. This was never going to help him as a politician because the motion was already in the public domain and therefore it would depict him as captured,” said a source very close to the developments. Contacted as to why he never met the VP, Majaga said: “I found a meeting invite and when I went to his [Tsogwane] office he was not around and I had some personal commitment which I had to fulfil and continued with those. It should not be like I was dodging them or anything, what for?” he rhetorically asked.
On the other hand sources say Majaga was enraged by the stance of the party leadership in sending Arone to convince him on the motion. It is said; he wanted to be formally approached by the leadership if at all they were taking the matter seriously. “Tsogwane attends parliament almost every day, so the argument was why couldn’t he sit him down and talk or even invite him for a meeting at parliament rather than sending a new comer in the party,” said a source.
The motion was successfully passed last week after the sponsor, Majaga garnered enough support to ward-off Vice President Tsogwane’s attempt to have the motion killed. President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi has reportedly expressed his disapproval for the motion and had tried to convince the party legislators not to support the motion but to no avail.
The motion requests the government to carry out a referendum on the possibility of direct election of the president of the Republic of Botswana. Masisi reportedly believes that the ongoing tension between him and his predecessor Lt Gen Ian Khama makes him anxious that the party could be conspiring to abort his 10 year tenure as president.
In his motion, Majaga also wants cabinet ministers not to be selected from sitting Members of Parliament as per the current status quo. He asserts that cabinet ministers are constrained and overstretched as they have to meet the demands of the ministry and the constituency they represent. He went on to say that, should ministers be selected from outside Parliament, the President would be able to bring experts with a wealth of experience to head the ministries.
“I believe ministers should focus on their ministerial portfolios and account to Parliament. In the current system, Permanent Secretaries are the ones who represent ministries during their meetings with the Public Accounts Committee instead of ministers,” Majaga explained.
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Batswana owe banks P79 billion
The Minister of Finance, Peggy Serame, has disclosed that the total bank credit extended by commercial banks amounted to P79 billion, out of which P53.4 billion was retail loans and advances to households.
Parliament was informed this week in response to a question by the Member of Parliament for Selibe-Phikwe West and Leader of Opposition (LOO), Dithapelo Keorapetse.
“As at 31st December 2022, loans and other advances extended to households by banks constituted the largest share of bank-lending at 67.6 percent, the majority of which was unsecured personal loans at P36.2 billion (67.8%),” said Serame.
She added that the total household Debt to GDP ratio was 21.9%, while the total private business credit to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio was 10.8%.
On the other hand, it was noted that outstanding mortgage loans extended to households were P14.2 billion (26.6% of household debt) or 5.9% of GDP. Overall, total bank credit as a ratio of GDP stood at 32.7 percent.
It was acknowledged that there are 10 deposit-taking banks in the country, that is, nine commercial banks and one statutory bank (Botswana Savings Bank). This statistics excludes the National Development Bank (NDB), which is a development finance institution. The nine commercial banks include an indigenous bank, Botswana Building Society Bank Limited (BBSBL), which was issued with a commercial banking license by the Bank of Botswana in October 2022.
Still in December 2022, it was recorded that there were 376 non-bank lenders in Botswana consisting of 246 micro lenders, 66 finance companies, three leasing companies and 61 registered pawnshops.
According to Minister Serame, the loan book value representing the principal amount lent by these entities to individuals and to small, medium and micro Enterprises (SMMEs) is collated by the Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA), which at 31st of December 2021, the loan book values were P5.6 billion for micro lenders, P1.6 billion for finance companies, P225 million for leasing companies and P14 million for pawnshops.
Government policy is that price control is not effective or desirable, and, as such, interest rates are not regulated. Non-regulation may, among other things, result in an increase in non-interest rate fees and commissions, reduced price transparency, lower credit supply and loan approval rates.
“It is important to note that, from a macroeconomic perspective, household debt in Botswana is neither a pandemic nor considered to be excessive. Indeed, the Bank of Botswana’s periodic and continuous assessments of household debt, including through the annual Household Indebtedness Surveys, suggest moderate household indebtedness and therefore, is of no apparent risk to the safety and soundness of the domestic financial system,” said Serame.
She also alluded this assessment is validated by the recently concluded Financial Sector Assessment Programme (FSAP) on Botswana undertaken by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group.
Keorapetse however rebuked the issue of debt not being excessive and noted the Minister thinks it’s fine for Batswana to be debt burdened in a way that their debts diminishes their quality of life.
“A significant portion of Batswana’s salaries go to servicing debts and because she doesn’t see this as a challenge, there can never be any intervention from her side. There is no price regulation on interest, which can go up to 30%+ a month. Since President Masisi ascended to the high office in 2018, 2 384 Batswana were put in prison for failure to pay debts, that is 467 Batswana every year. So, for us, debt problems are big and concerning,” said Keorapetse.
He said they are worried because Batswana are drowning in debts because of relative poverty, slave wages and unemployment/underemployment, they buy basic needs and services with borrowed money and noted predatory and unethical lending has become a major problem in Botswana’s financial sector.
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How to fleece P14 million from Chinese investor
The modus operandi of how five men allegedly swindled a Chinese national P14 million last week continue to unravel. Highly placed sources from the intelligence, the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) and Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS) revealed to this publication how the whole scam was concocted.
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ENVIRONMENT ISSUES: Masisi asks Virginia for help
President Mokgweetsi Masisi says the issue of sustainable natural resources management has always been an important part of Botswana’s national development agenda.
Masisi was speaking this week on the occasion of a public lecture at Virginia Polytechnic, under theme, “Merging Conservation, Democracy and Sustainable Development in Botswana.”
Botswana, according to Masisi, holds the view that the environment is fragile and as such, must be managed and given the utmost protection to enable the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“It is necessary that we engage one another in the interchange of ideas, perspectives, visualizations of social futures, and considerations of possible strategies and courses of action for sustainable development,” said Masisi.
On the other hand, dialogue, in the form of rigorous democratic discourse among stakeholders presents another basis for reconfiguring how people act on their environments, with a view to conserving its resources that “we require to meet our socio-economic development needs on a sustainable basis,” Masisi told attendees at the public lecture.
He said government has a keen interest in understanding the epidemiology and ecology of diseases of both domestic and wild animals. “It is our national interest to forestall the dire consequences of animal diseases on our communities livelihoods.”
President Masisi hoped that both Botswana and Virginia could help each other in curbing contagious diseases of wildlife.
“We believe that Virginia Tech can reasonably share their experiences, research insights and advances in veterinary sciences and medicines, to help us build capacity for knowledge creation and improve efforts of managing and containing contagious diseases of wildlife. The ground is fertile for entering into such a mutually beneficial partnership.”
When explaining environmental issues further, Masisi said efforts of conservation and sustainable development might at times be hampered by the emergence and recurrence of diseases when pathogens mutate and take host of more than one species.
“Water pollution also kills aquatic life, such as fish, which is one of humanity’s much deserved sources of food. In this regard, One Health Approach imposes ecological responsibility upon all of us to care for the environment and the bio-diversity therein.”
He said the production and use of animal vaccines is an important space and tool for conservation, particularly to deal with trans-border animal diseases.
“In Botswana, our 43-year-old national premier pharmaceutical institution called Botswana Vaccine Institute has played its role well. Through its successful production of highly efficacious Foot and Mouth vaccines, the country is able to contain this disease as well as supply vaccines to other countries in the sub-region.:
He has however declared that there is need for more help, saying “We need more capacitation to deal with and contain other types of microbial that affect both animals and human health.”