Job creation: The BOPEU perspective
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BOPEU’s Edward Tswaipe
An innovative use of pension and provident funds and innovative tax incentives to release capital for private and social investments, promotion of co-operatives, mainstreaming of youth bias in job creation, incentives for skills export to create high end job opportunities, job retention strategies and for employment intensive macro-economic policy framework are collectively, a panacea for making more and better jobs possible in Botswana, according to BOPEU.
Speaking on behalf of BOPEU President, Andrew Motsamai, BOPEU’s Edward Tswaipe told the just ended Annual Botswana Job Summit that government must abandon its conservative macro-economic policy and utilize a handsome portion of the P50 billion worth of pension funds held by Botswana Public Officers Fund (BPOPF) must be utilized locally through government borrowing to finance infrastructure and large scale investment projects to create decent jobs through deepening of the domestic capital markets.
Serious consideration could also be given to implementing the recommendations of the 2008 study conducted by Keith Jefferies for Finmark Trust that a statutory consolidation of private sector retirement industry funds would yield huge benefits to the economy in terms of expanding domestic financial markets, guaranteeing social protection for all; and reducing the burden of private insurance firms which are already contributing to private pension funds for their employees. The study further recommended that firms’ mandatory contributions to social insurance be diverted to a broad based pension scheme covering the whole private sector.
BOPEU is further advocating for mandatory workers’ insurance, compulsory pension funds and other mandatory employment benefits, such as maternity benefits that are to be consolidated into a National Social Security Fund (NSSF) contributed by employers, employees and government, which in 20 years could worth well over P100-P200 billion in pension and workers’ insurance fund.
The fund could also include paternity allowances and unemployment benefits. Government was hypocritical by not borrowing funds from pension fund to finance infrastructural development and it was wrong for her to lead a Fund belonging to workers while denying them as rightful owners the right to influence investment decisions on how their money is used.
There was need for targeted and creative use of tax incentives and youth job subsidies to sentivitise youth employment creation since tax credits are increasingly being adopted by most countries to promote both investment and entrepreneurship and at the same time tackle the challenges of unemployment and sluggish economic growth.
Two similar programmes (NIP and GVS) are wrongly conceptualized as youth empowerment schemes rather active labour market policies because they lack the tax element embedded in their design.
Youth wage subsidies and tax credits are used worldwide as a means to increase absorption of young people into the labour market and are supported by the ILO. However, there was a danger that such subsidies could be abused and suffer the disadvantage of becoming part of the labour market flexibility and vulnerability challenges. Employers tend to use young entrants as cheap labour to displace other workers and avoid associated mandatory labour costs.
Tax incentives are also demand driven and do not adequately address fundamental causes of structural unemployment such as poor skills, limited experience and so on and points to education as the only sustainable means to labour market absorption.
The problem of youth unemployment was structural and a function of the failure of the education system to produce adequate, appropriate skills(supply) and insufficiency of labour demand due to low growth, high skills, productivity requirements and high wage expectations.
Similarly no consideration has been made to capitalise on non-Profit Organizations such as trade unions, co-operatives and NGOs as potential job creators and no comprehensive study with the exception of that of Kalusope (2013), was ever conducted on the financial and fixed asset holdings of trade unions.
Yet, the total trade union asset holding may be in excess of P300 million with possible monthly subscriptions of more than P10 million, excluding the income from their profit making investment arms.
Co-operatives also have a similar pattern of assets and income generation, especially the Savings and Credit Coops (SACCOS) but tend to remain stuck in marketing, multipurpose cops and SACCOS. NGOs also handle massive donor funding which could be better managed and controlled.
BOPEU is advocating for a deliberate policy mainstreaming skills development in public investment contracts in the manner of the 1070s localization policy, youth bias in job creation in the way of affirmative action, deliberate massive investment in industry relevant TEVET programmes.
The rationale for this is that in the long run, a demand relevant TEVET programme would position young people competitively for sustainable absorption and recommend that programme design should go beyond youth empowerment schemes to into ALMPs linked to the education system. Sustainability would require integration into the overarching development strategy such as industrialization strategy and not in mere disbursement of funds.
Botswana should also look into exporting skills of its technicians and professionals where it is experience an excess in supply but who are in short supply in other countries because while there are shortages in some areas there are excess in others, rather than to retrain and accept misallocated employment and underemployment.
The strategy to create jobs without an accompanying strategy to retain them is an evidence of unsustainability and BOPEU recommends job retention as an innovation embedded and mainstreamed in all job creation strategies.
Retention should be about strengthening labour market regulation and integrating industrial relations into the job retention strategy. An issue of concern is job losses due to retrenchments where the Commissioner of Labour issues a certificate upon mere pleading of bankruptcy or weak financials.
Instead it should be that a company that seeks to retrench workers should be subjecting itself to further scrutiny to substantiate its claim. A law should create a Commission made up of industry and financial experts to investigate operational requirements and report to the Commissioner before any large scale redundancy could be considered.
Part of the job creation strategy should also entail reclaiming jobs being lost to other countries through hosting o management decisions and hubbing of activities where for instance, in the banking industry, a hub is created elsewhere in places like Kenya, Zimbabwe or South Africa, yet the company would be making its biggest profits from Botswana.”Common sense dictates that the hub should be where the business is, unless there are compelling reasons otherwise”.
In the case of retailing, local managers are being subordinated to lower ranking supervisors in Johannesburg or Cape Town for the most mundane of decisions, while in the tourism industry, group bookings to the Okavango delta are made from Johannesburg or London and payments made into foreign accounts before accessing the service in Botswana.
BOPEU wants the review of employment intensity of growth and investment and recommend the dominance of bias in monetary and fiscal policy towards more and better jobs, where employment is the means to translate growth in a sustainable route out of poverty and inequality. A long delayed National Employment Policy (NEP) should be brought to parliament as promised with targets has to integrated into National Development Plans, with decent work as a cross cutting theme.
Policy makers must jettison the misconception that to create jobs less attention should be paid to decent work and the quality of those jobs including tenure, decent wages, compliance with labour standards, social security, job retention, minimum wages, collective bargaining, EPL and mandatory benefits should be part of the equation.
News
DPP drops Kably threat to kill case
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.”
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DPP seizes prosecution duties from Police
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
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BCP, AP stalemate in 7 constituencies
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.