DPSM considers implementing the PEMANDU report
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As the nation prepares for the first budget speech under President Mokgweetsi Masisi on Monday by Minister of Finance and Economic Development Kenneth Matambo, government through the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM) is considering implementing some of the findings of the controversial PEMANDU report, Weekend Post can confirm.
The classified report, leaked to this publication exposes the Botswana Public Service while proposing some major sweeping changes with wide implications. Chief among them are a proposal of a salary hike of 20 percent for grades A and B; 10 percent for grades C and D and 15 percent for grade E and F. It says however to bridge the widening gap between lower and higher paid civil servants, higher grades of E and F should receive no increment in the proposals and keep their range.
In the absence of the increments of grades E and F the report further recommends 15 percent for grades A and B; and 10 percent for grades C and D only. The additional costs to the government however will be P1.23 billion. In addition to increments some of the findings include; redesigning the salary structure to have broad bands that get broader at the higher grade (fan-shaped) with a high degree of overlap between one range and another.
The report also proposes that government calibrate the salary to narrow the gap with the private sector to be more comparable but not leading; and that a formal salary review process should be established and undertaken regularly to ensure the salary structure is still relevant and parity with the private sector is maintained. It also calls for the allowances be terminated or be streamlined.
“The initiatives will put the remuneration system on a competitive basis and in line with best practices in other countries. It will enable the public sector to attract, recruit and retain the skills and competencies it need to transform the public sector into a high performing organisation that is ready and capable to further the transformation programmes to achieve Vision 2036,” report posits. The report was compiled by a Malaysian firm, PEMANDU Associates, at the tune of USD 1,677,390 (BWP 17, 6 million).
In light of the PEMANDU report, when speaking to Weekend Post on Wednesday, the Director of DPSM Goitseone Mosalakatane confirmed that indeed they are considering implementing the report for the civil servants in Botswana. “We are considering the report. We will discuss it with the reference group. Immediately after next week we will call a reference team meeting. It has not been discussed as yet. It’s premature but we will definitely consider it – as soon as possible,” she told this publication.
When asked what her overall impressions were on the confidential and controversial PEMANDU report, she said “we will formulate an opinion around the case. So my opinion alone does not count.” She highlighted that however she was shocked that the classified report got leaked to Weekend Post before they receive, read, internalise and deliberate on it especially deciding on whether to implement the well-researched findings.
According to the Director of DPSM, the long awaited PEMANDU report was received by government on the 25th January 2019 and has since been shared with all Public Sectors Unions on the 29th January 2019. When asked who now misled President Masisi in the State of the Nation Address (SONA) in November that the unions were handed the report, the Permanent Secretary to the President (PSP) Carter Morupisi referred this publication to the DPSM.
The DPSM Director in turn was mum and chose not to answer when asked on what transpired leading to the president being misinformed. The report, she said, is now being processed by the parties (government and unions) and information shall be availed in due course regarding future engagements. The DPSM stated that however she would like to put it on record that the report is not a reflection of government’s position (at least as yet).
When asked on the briefcase carried by Matambo with regards to public servants salaries she was cagey with the details and instead told this publication that, “it would be too early to comment on the budget salary component because the salary negotiation process is still ongoing.” In order to expedite the salary negotiations process, she said the eight Public sector unions will be negotiating with the employer party as two blocks comprising; Botswana Public Employees Union (BOPEU), National Amalgamated Local, Central Government and Parastatal Workers Union (NALCGPWU), Botswana Teachers Union (BTU), Botswana Sectors of Educators Trade Union (BOSETU), Botswana Land Board, Local Authorities and Health Workers Union (BLLAHWU), and Botswana Nurses Union (BONU). There will be six negotiators from each negotiating party.
The other trade unions block includes Trainers and Allied Workers’ Union (TAWU) and Botswana Government Workers Union (BOGOWU) which will only have two negotiators from each negotiating party. Mosalakatane emphasised that although the unions will negotiate in two blocks as stated, but conclusive agreements will be entered into with each trade union. The DPSM Director went on to state that the Public Service Bargaining Council (PSBC) will remain dysfunctional.
This is despite the fact that President Masisi has promised the nation that the government is committed to the resuscitation of the PSBC to advance the interests of public sector employees in a fair and transparent manner. The unions maintain that all what the president promised; resuscitating the Bargaining Council has not materialised, and that they have lost hope on his government right from the beginning. Against what Masisi promised initially, Mosalakatane said the resuscitation of the PSBC has been halted in order to fully focus on salary negotiations.
It is planned that once these are complete (salary negotiations), the PSBC resuscitation process will continue. In a separate statement, the Chief Negotiators for the Employer Party and the Union Party in the just established salary negotiations, Dr Theophilus Mooko and Tobokani Rari respectively stated that the PEMANDU report “has not been processed by the relevant structures of the two parties, but can be used to inform that process.”
The DPSM’s declaration that they will “consider” the findings of the PEMANDU report barely comes after Weekend Post ran a story last week on another confidential paper by Minister of Finance and Economic Planning titled “economic background paper to inform government’s position on the review of salaries and conditions of service for public officers” which backed the PEMANDU recommendations.
The Ministry stated: “It is therefore important that the recommendations from the PEMANDU study on the public service remunerations should be considered against all these other competing needs on the government budget, as well as the limited fiscal space available in the medium term.” According to the Ministry report, which is based on the baseline budget for 2019/2020, and to be submitted to cabinet, one can consider two scenarios for the implementation of the recent PEMANDU recommendations; “scenario 1 it’s either government adopts full implementation of the recommendations; or scenario 2 government adopts and implement at least 50% of the PEMANDU recommendations.”
Masisi had said that it was government’s wish for any (PEMANDU) recommendations agreed upon – to be budgeted for and effected on April 1 2019 (which is the government’s beginning of the financial cycle). However it remains to be seen this week what in the brief case for the public servants. The DPSM head has also stated that the government is alive to the fact that poor working conditions contributes to poor productivity and poor employee relations.
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The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) Chief Whip and Member of Parliament for Letlhakeng/Lephephe Liakat Kably has welcomed the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP)’s decision not to prosecute BDP councillor, Meshack Tshenyego who allegedly threatened to kill him. However, the legislator has warned that should anything happen to his life, the state and the courts will have to account.
In an interview with this publication, Kablay said he has heard that the DPP has declined to prosecute Tshenyego in a case in which he threatened to kill him adding that the reasons he received are that there was not enough evidence to prosecute. “I am fine and at peace with the decision not to prosecute over evidential deficits but I must warn that should anything happen to my life both the DPP and the Magistrate will have to account,” Kablay said.
Connectedly, Kably said he has made peace with Tshenyego, “we have made peace and he even called me where upon we agreed to work for the party and bury the hatchet”.
The DPP reportedly entered into a Nolle Prosequi in the matter, meaning that no action would be taken against the former Letlhakeng Sub-district council chairperson and currently councillor for Matshwabisi.
According to the charge sheet before the Court, councilor Tshenyego on July 8th, 2022 allegedly threatened MP Kably by indirectly uttering the following words to nominatedcouncilor Anderson Molebogi Mathibe, “Mosadi wa ga Liakat le ban aba gagwe ba tsile go lela, Mosadi wame le banake le bone ba tsile go lela. E tla re re mo meeting, ka re tsena meeting mmogo, ke tla mo tlolela a bo ke mmolaya.”
Loosely translated this means, Liakat’s wife and children are going to shed tears and my wife and kids will shed tears too. I will jump on him and kill him during a meeting.
Mathibe is said to have recorded the meeting and forwarded it to Kably who reported the matter to the police.
In a notice to the Magistrate Court to have the case against Tshenyego, acting director of Public Prosecutions, Wesson Manchwe cited the nolle prosequi by the director of public prosecution in terms of section 51 A (30) of the Constitution and section 10 of the criminal procedure and evidence act (CAP 08:02) laws of Botswana as reasons for dropping the charges.
A nolle prosequi is a formal notice of abandonment by a plaintiff or prosecutor of all or part of a suit or action.
“In pursuance of my powers under section 51 A (300 of the Constitution and section 10 of the criminal procedure and evidence act (CAP 08:02) laws of Botswana, I do hereby stop and discontinue criminal proceedings against the accused Meshack Tshenyego in the Kweneng Administrative District, CR.No.1077/07/2022 being the case of the State vs Tshenyego,” said Manchwe. The acting director had drafted the notice dropping the charges on 13th day of March 2023.
The case then resumed before the Molepolole Magistrate Solomon Setshedi on the 14th of March 2023. The Magistrate issued an order directing “that matters be withdrawn with prejudice to the State, accused is acquitted and discharged.”

Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) has finally taken over prosecution from the Botswana Police Service (BPS). The police have been prosecuting for years, but the takeover means that they will now only focus on investigations and then hand over to the DPP for prosecution.
Talks of complete takeover began as far back as 2008, but for years it seemed implementation was sluggish. However, the Minister of Justice, Machana Shamukuni, revealed that the complete takeover is expected to be completed soon.
During a presentation to the Committee of Supply by Shamukuni this week, it was revealed that the project has been implemented in 22 police stations nationwide, including Maun, Selebi-Phikwe, Palapye, Francistown, and Kasane. He further stated that the project has been allocated P3,000,000 for the 2023/2024 financial year to facilitate the opening of more satellite offices for the DPP.
Shamukuni said the Lobatse station is scheduled for a complete takeover by the end of May 2023, while the Kasane DPP satellite office has been established and became operational as of February 1, 2023.
“As reported previously, preparations are at an advanced stage to open a satellite office in Tsabong to curtail expenses, as well as frequent long-distance trips to these areas, as it is currently serviced by the Lobatse DPP office,” Shamukuni said.
Shamukuni said that the takeover strategy is to enable a seamless and gradual takeover of prosecution from the BPS without overwhelming and overstretching the thin resources at its disposal.
According to Shamukuni, the implementation of the prosecution takeover project has increased the workload of the 211 prosecutors in the DPP establishment.
Furthermore, the Justice Minister said DPP statistics show that the DPP has a total of 11,903 cases and dockets as of January 2023. He indicated that this is a significant increase in the number of cases being handled by the DPP, considering that in November 2021, the DPP had just over 8,471 files.
“Out of the total case load, 8 382 are cases pending before various courts while 3521 are dockets received from law enforcement agencies of which 1 325 are awaiting service of summons while the rest are being assessed for suitability of prosecution or otherwise” said Shamukuni.
He further stated that The DPP has consistently maintained an 80% success rate in matters completed at court.
“As at the end of January 2023, the success rate stood at 82.3% against a target of 90% whilst the average performance in respect of turnaround time for conclusion of cases at court stood at 17.5 months against a target of 18 months,” he said.
BACKLOG OF CASES – LAND TRIBUNAL
Meanwhile, Minister Shamukuni has revealed that Gaborone land Tribunal is experiencing a backlog of cases. Before parliament this week, Shamukuni revealed that a total 230 appeals were completed for the period of April 2022- December 2022 and only 76.5% of them were completed within set time frame.
The minister said that the Gaborone division has experiencing a backlog of cases due to manpower constraints and he further indicated that presiding officers from other divisions have been brought in to expedite case disposal.
He further indicated that the land tribunal is a specialized court that has been empowered to resolve appeals arising from land boards. “It has been mandated to determine appeals from the decisions of Physical planning committees of Districts Councils” said Shamukuni.
Land Tribunal relocated to the Ministry of Justice from Ministry of Land and Water Affairs in November 2022.
“An amount of P37, 842,670 is requested to cover salaries, allowance and other operational expenses for the Department of the land Tribunal,” alluded Shamukuni

When the Botswana Congress Party (BCP), Alliance for Progressives, Botswana Labour Party (BLP), and conveners reconvene next week, the controversial issue of allocation of the seven constituencies will be the main topic of discussion, WeekendPost can reveal.
Not only that, but the additional four constituencies will also dominate the talks. The idea is to finally close the “constituency allocation phase,” which has proven to be the most difficult part of the ongoing negotiations.
Earlier this year, the two parties announced that the marathon talks would be concluded by February. Even at a media briefing last month, BCP Secretary General Goretetse Kekgonegile and Publicity Secretary Dr. Mpho Pheko were optimistic that the negotiations would be concluded before the end of February.
However, it is now mid-March and the talks have yet to be concluded. What could be the reasons for the delay? This is a question that both Kekgonegile and Pheko have not responded to, as they have ignored the reporters’ inquiries. However, a senior figure within the party has confided to this publication as to what is delaying the highly anticipated negotiations.
“We are reconvening next week to finalize constituency allocations, taking into account the additional four new ones plus the outstanding seven,” he explained. It later surfaced that Gaborone Central, Gaborone North, Mogoditshane, Tswapong North, Francistown West, Tati West, and Nata Gweta are all contested by both BCP and AP. This is because the other 50 constituencies were allocated by December of last year.
The three parties have failed to find common ground for the Bosele Ward by-elections. Are these constituencies not a deal breaker for the talks? “None of the constituencies is a deal breaker,” responded a very calm BCP official.
In Bosele Ward, AP has yielded to BCP, despite most of its members disapproving the decision. On the other hand, BLP has refused, and it will face off with BCP together with Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) and Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC).
The decision by BLP to face off with BCP has been labelled as a false start for the talks by political observers.