Job losses loom large
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Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) intends to retrench, CEO Jacob Raleru
The Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs has informed President Lt Gen Ian Khama that 55 companies have submitted notifications of intent to restructure which might lead to retrenchment of employees during the next quarter, as required by the Employment Act.
This comes in the wake of further job losses reported by other companies including Kgalagadi Breweries this month. KBL retrenched 88 employees at its Lobatse plant. Information on possible retrenchments surfaced at President Khama’s briefing by the Ministry last week.
According to Pearl Matome, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs, fourteen companies retrenched a total of 297 employees between March and June 2015. The sector that has had the highest number of retrenched employees is the diamond polishing industry. Zebra Diamond and Leo Schechter Botswana retrenched a total of 82 employees between them.
Notifications of intentions to restructure and retrench came from companies including – Botswana Power Corporation (BPC); Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC); Diamond Trading Company Botswana (DTCB); Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC); Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF); and the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM), among others.
Matome has also revealed that the Employers’ Organisations Act is being reviewed with particular attention to dismissal process of non performing employees as there is an impression by employers that the process is long and therefore compromises productivity. She pointed out that the current laws were inherited from the pre-independence era and seem to be undermining productivity.
BPC going through transformation
A decision by the Botswana Power Corporation is currently subject to a Management Contract for a period of three years to enable the Corporation to achieve performance turnaround and organisational transformation.
This is said to have influenced the decision to restructure.
The decision was taken pursuant to a Business Operations Review consultancy that was carried out on BPC by an energy consultancy firm based in Ireland, ESB International Limited in 2013.
A change process for BPC is envisaged that was largely brought about by the Corporation’s transformation from a retailer of power to an electricity generator with a higher asset base due to increased generation and transmission infrastructure.
“It is imperative that BPC be transformed from its current operating status to a financially viable power utility and a BPC 2018 end state strategy has been developed to achieve this,” read an earlier statement by the BPC.
This is seen as an opportune time for the project given the following developments in the Botswana electricity industry; The external expertise will assist BPC to ready itself for competition in the electricity industry in line with Government’s decision to open up the market to independent power producers; With the imminent setting up of an electricity regulator, BPC will also be assisted to prepare itself to operate within a regulated environment.
The Management Contract service provider took over the operations of Botswana Power Corporation for a three year period to facilitate the transformation. The management and staff of BPC are participating in the transformation process with a view to leading the transformed organisation at the end of the contract period. It is expected that at the end of the three year Management Contract the service provider will deliver a transformed BPC in line with the agreed performance indicators.
DTC Botswana goes for efficiency
Diamond Trading Company Botswana (DTC Botswana) is a 50/50 Joint Venture partnership between the Government of the Republic of Botswana and De Beers. DTC Botswana sorts and values Debswana Diamond Company’s rough diamond production.
Debswana Diamond Company (Pty) Ltd is a 50/50 Joint Venture partnership between the Government of the Republic of Botswana and De Beers. DTCB could be embarking on a restructuring process because of market pressures and the need to optimise its operations.
BITC wants a lean organisation
BITC is mandated to promote export led investment and seek export markets for Botswana products. The parastatal has been operating amidst a still, subdued global economy that is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.
However, despite the economic gloom, BITC believes that Botswana remains an attractive destination for investment not only in terms of the growing size of an increasingly affluent consumer base, but also taking into account the returns that investors have been able to achieve in Africa over the years.
BITC has a complex organisational structure, its possible re-organisation may phase out some positions, and there is little suggestion that there will be new posts created. Sources say the BITC may be looking at making the organisation leaner while still executing its mandate efficiently.
DPSM may phase out posts
Government’s employing organ, the Directorate of Public Service Management has also notified the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs of its intentions to restructure which may lead to retrenchments. This is despite the fact that government currently has over 10 000 vacancies.
The Minister of Finance and Development Planning has on a number of occasions indicated that government is going leaner and was looking at lowering the wage bill. There is generally a freeze of recruitment within government and most government departments are working towards having streamlined organisational structures. DPSM is likely to lead the way in trimming down staff numbers.
BHC has notified Government
“The signs of recovery from the global financial crisis are creeping in at a slow pace and Botswana is not an exception. The local GDP is expected to grow by 5.9% during 2014. The growth is driven by the recovery in the mining sector, especially diamonds. The contribution of mining to GDP is still much less than the pre-2008 levels. This slow recovery has had a negative impact on the Botswana Housing Corporation as Government scaled down on new construction projects, leading to low activity in the construction and infrastructure sector. The prospective BHC customers were also affected as they struggled to afford the houses. In some cases, prospective customers prioritised other basic necessities like food and clothing over home ownership. It is evident that the BHC customers have not benefited from the low interest rates currently prevailing in the market due to issues of affordability of our houses,” wrote BHC chairperson in her report in the BHC 2014 annual report.
BHC as a parastatal is not doing badly. Their balance sheet looks healthy despite reduced economic activity which is acknowledged by the chairperson. It is evident that they may be going through a phase where they need to realign their workforce and slot them into a new structure that will promote efficiency. Observers are not expecting a full scale retrenchment but rather restructuring.
Government Austerity program
When a government tightens its belt in tough economic times the entire nation feels the squeeze. With less money to pay for the full spectrum of government services because of declining tax revenues and increasing debt, deep cuts in expenditures would seem inevitable. Minister Kenneth Matambo has already alluded to the fact that government will have to make cuts in spending. He was emphatic on the need to reduce the government workforce among other things.
At its simplest, an austerity program, usually enacted by legislation, may include one or more of the following:
A cut, or a freeze without raises, of government salaries and benefits.
A freeze on government hiring and layoffs of government workers.
A reduction or elimination of government services, temporarily or permanently.
Government expenditures may cut. Previously planned government spending programs – infrastructure construction and repair, healthcare and veterans' benefits, for example – may be cut, suspended or abandoned.
An increase in taxes, including income, corporate, property, sales and capital gains taxes.
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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.”
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Masisi saddened by deaths of elephant attacks
President Mokgweetsi Masisi has expressed a strong worry over elephants killing people in Botswana. When speaking in Virginia this week, Masisi said it is unfortunate that Batswana have paid a price with their own blood through being attacked by elephants.
“Communities also suffer unimaginable economic losses yearly when their crops are eaten by the elephants. In spite of such incidents of human-elephant conflict, our people embrace living together with the animals. They fully understand wildlife conservation and its economic benefits in tourism.”
In 2018, Nthobogang Samokwase’s father was attacked by an elephant when travelling from the fields, where he stayed during the cropping season.
It was reported that the man couldn’t run because of his age. He was found trampled by the elephant and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.
In the same year, in Maun, a 57-year-old British woman was attacked by an elephant at Boro and died upon arrival at the hospital. The woman was with her Motswana partner, and were walking dogs in the evening.
Last month, a Durban woman named Carly Marshall survived an elephant attack while on holiday in the bush in Botswana. She was stabbed by one of the elephant’s tucks through the chest and was left with bruises. Marshall also suffered several fractured ribs from the ordeal.
President Masisi Botswana has the largest population of African elephants in the world, totaling more than 130 000. “This has been possible due to progressive conservation policies, partnerships with the communities, and investment in wildlife management programmes.”
In order to benefit further from wildlife, Masisi indicated that government has re-introduced controlled hunting in 2019 after a four-year pause. “The re-introduction of hunting was done in an open, transparent and democratic way, giving the communities an opportunity to air their views. The funds from the sale of hunting quota goes towards community development and elephant conservation.”
He stressed that for conservation to succeed, the local people must be involved and derive benefits from the natural resources within their localities.
“There must be open and transparent consultations which involve all sectors of the society. It is against this backdrop that as a country, we lead the continent on merging conservation, democracy and sustainable development.”
Masisi stated that Botswana is open to collaborative opportunities, “particularly with identifiable partners such as Virginia Tech, in other essential areas such as conservation, and the study of the interplay among the ecology of diseases of wild animals and plants, and their effects on human health and socio-economic development.”
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Gov’t commit to injecting more funds in fighting HIV
Minister for State President Kabo Morwaeng says government will continue to make resources available in terms of financial allocations and human capital to ensure that Botswana achieves the ideal of eradicating HIV and AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
Morwaeng was speaking this morning in Gaborone at the High-Level Advocacy event to accelerate HIV Prevention in Botswana. He said the National AIDS and Health Promotion Agency (NAPHA), in partnership with UNAIDS, UN agencies, the Global Fund and PEPFAR, have started a process of developing transition readiness plan for sustainability of HIV prevention and treatment programmes.
“It is important for us, as a country that has had a fair share of donor support in the response to an epidemic such as HIV and AIDS, to look beyond the period when the level of assistance would have reduced, or ceased, thus calling for domestic financing for all areas which were on donor support.”
Morwaeng said this is important as the such a plan will guarantee that all the gains accrued from the response with donor support will be sustained until the end when “we reach the elimination of HIV and AIDS as a public health threat by 20230,” he said.
“I commit to continue support efforts towards strengthened HIV prevention, accentuating HIV primary prevention and treatment as prevention towards Zero New Infections, Zero Stigma, Discrimination and Zero AIDS related death, to end AIDS in Botswana.”
He reiterated that government commits to tackle legislative, policy and programming challenges that act as barriers to the achievement of the goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat.
In the financial year 2022/2023, a total of 119 Civil Society Organizations, including Faith Based Organizations, were contracted with an amount of P100 million to implement HIV and NCDs prevention activities throughout the country, and the money was drawn from the Consolidated Fund.
Through an upcoming HIV Prevention Symposium, technical stakeholders will use outcomes to develop the Botswana HIV Prevention Acceleration Road Map for 2023-2025.
Morwaeng stated that government will support and ensure that Botswana plays its part achieving the road map. He said there is need to put hands on the deck to ensure that Botswana sustains progress made so far in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
“There are tremendous achievements thus far to, reach and surpass the UNAIDS fast track targets of 95%- 95%- 95% by the year 2025. As reflected by the BAIS preliminary results of 2021, we now stand at 95- 98- 98 against the set targets.”
“These achievements challenge us to now shift our gears and strive to know who are the remaining 5% for those aware of their HIV status, 2% of enrolment on treatment by those aware of their status and 2% of viral suppression by those on treatment.”
Explaining this further, Morwaeng said shift in gears should extend to coming up with robust strategies of determining where these remaining people are as well as how they will be reached with the necessary services.
“These are just some of the many variables that are required to ensure that as a country, we are well positioned to reaching the last mile of our country’s response to the HIV and AIDS pandemic.”