01 Feb 2015

 

This afternoon the Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Mr Kenneth Matambo, will present the 2015/16 budget speech to Parliament. BOPA reporter, Calviniah Kgautlhe, went out into the streets of Gaborone to find out what the public thought about this year’s budget. 

FOOD PRICES

Ms Kelebogile Selelo, 34 and Unemployed Degree holder She expects the budget to largely touch on youth employment and job creation and reduce the backlog of unemployed graduates registered by DPSM. 

“After graduating it takes a long time to find full time employment while time is ticking and we lose some of our prime years idle. Right now I am at home struggling to find employment.”

In the last Parliament sitting, the house approved amendments to provision of a zero rated from Value Added Tax (VAT) charge on certain basic foodstuffs and fresh fruits and vegetables. She said food prices remain unchanged despite the passing of this legislation, “One cannot notice whether supermarkets have responded to remove VAT from milk, brown bread, fresh vegetables, fruits, rice, bread flour, samp and others because there is no difference in the till slip,” she says.

INFORMAL SECTOR 

Ms Dolly Mpofu, 44, uneducated hawker at Bus Station for the 15 years.  The informal sector plays a critical role in development of the economy. 

Ms Mpofu who sells vegetables, sweets and cellphone airtime at Gaborone bus station says for 15 years she has been supporting her family from her proceeds every single day. “On a good day I make about P100 per day, at the end of the month I pay rent, I pay transport fare for my children I buy them uniform and food life goes on.”

Ms Mpofu expects government to improve informal sector participation and enhance business environment. “Right now when it rains I am forced to pack and go and not make any money for the day, perhaps if they could assist by offering decent temporary structures it could be better,” she said.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT 

Mr Oabitsa Ketshabile, 34 started driving Public Transport in 2004. A well-coordinated network of public transport is key to driving the economy. 

Mr Ketshabile who has been in the transport industry for about a decade says currently combi fare is P3.50 and is not enough to sustain their livelihoods. “For 3 years we have been charging passengers P3.50 atleast if it could be increased to P5 it could be better.”

“Public Servants are our customers, first it has to start with government increasing their salaries,”

adding that he is aware that there is no how they can demand increase when there is no salary adjustments for the civil service. 

Further he says that a recent reduction in fuel prices could have helped their problems only if government did not increase local combi routes. “Routes have become many these days and we are now fighting for the same customers, it’s tough,” he says. ENDS