DPSM asked to smoke peace pipe with unions
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Tati East Member of Parliament Guma Moyo has told Director of Directorate on Public Service Management (DPSM) Ruth Maphorisa to ignite a process of reconciling government with unions representing public service employees.
Moyo, who is a member of Public Accounts Committee (PAC), said for the purpose of achieving progress and quality service delivery in the public service, the perennial impasse between the two parties should be put to bed.
Moyo told Maphorisa that the ongoing battles, the latest being a court battle between Botswana Federation of Public Employees Union (BOFEPUSU) and Botswana Public Employees Union (BOPEU) over the bargaining council, should be acted on because they are costing government dearly.
The Tati East legislator reckons that the bargaining council, which comprises of unions representing public service employees and government is the root of the problem. Moyo said, government, as an interested party should act in a decisive manner to ensure that the perennial stand-off is resolved.
“There is a need to urgently act on this matter because it is affecting service delivery in the public service,” he said.
While the ongoing case is largely a war between BOPEU and BOFEPUSU, Moyo is of the view that the bargaining council issue be resolved, and government should play anchor role.
Maphorisa told the PAC that she is expecting the Court of Appeal to make a judgement on the matter soon. This comes after BOPEU and BOFEPUSU failed to agree to negotiation over who should or should not seat at the bargaining council. This impasse is a result of BOPEU deciding to de-affiliate from BOFEPUSU amid clash of egos between BOFEPUSU Labour Secretary Jonhson Motshwarakgole and BOPEU President Andrew Motsamai.
Members of the PAC committee Biggie Butale has urged DPSM as an employer to act towards review of the Bargaining Council and construct it in a manner that will create less problems for the parties taking part in the council.
After the court judgement, Maphorisa said, they will relook into the structure of the bargaining council and its constitution with the view of effecting progressive changes in the council.
The Bargaining council came into being in 2010, following the decision to allow public service employees to unionise.
Maphorisa took over at DPSM at the beginning of 2015 following the appointment of Carter Morupisi as Permanent Secretary to the President, inheriting a legacy left by her predecessor-an unsavoury relationship between unions and government.
Briefing the media last year after her appointment, Maphorisa said she was keen on restoring peace between government and trade unions. Maphorisa also told journalists that she had efforts aimed at facilitating the efficiency of the Bargaining Council so that it fully discharges its mandate.
Despite assurances made by Maphorisa to transform the DPSM, relations between government and trade unions have barely improved. As the two unions were warring in court, government moved to increase public service employees’ salaries by 3 percent.
The High Court however, after BOFEPUSU challenged the decision ruled that the increment, which was done outside the bargaining council, was illegal, and was therefore declared null and void by Industrial Court Judge Harold Ruhukya.
In a move which was interpreted as war against unions, Maphorisa transferred Johannes Tshukudu, the President of BOFEPUSU from Tlokweng College of Education to Ministry of Transport and Communications.
BOFEPUSU dragged government to court again to challenge the decision and won. Industrial Court Judge Ruhukya said that Tshukudu’s transfer from his post as Senior Lecturer to Chief Administration was illegal because the affected did not have a requisite training and experience in administration which could lead to him losing his job as a result of inefficiency.
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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.

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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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.”