25 Feb 2015

The Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Mr Edwin Batshu, has urged Batswana to observe stipulated days for registering births and deaths. 

Addressing a kgotla meeting in Kasane recently, Mr Batshu said a child born within the country should be registered within 60 days after birth, while deaths should be registered within 30 days.

He also reminded residents that every 16-year-old child should have registered for their identity card within 30 days after their birthday. Minister Batshu stressed the importance of the identity card, adding that the document was a key that could unlock all doors for a Motswana to benefit from government programmes.

He urged residents to help the elderly who did not have identity cards by submitting their names to their dikgosi.He said registering births and deaths and having a national identity card assisted the government in its planning processes and resource allocation. 

The minister explained that such registration helped different ministries in its development plans, citing the Ministry of Health, which uses those statistics to know the volume of drugs that could be ordered for the country’s hospitals and clinics.

Focusing on work permits, Minister Batshu said the department of labour should refrain from issuing work permits to expatriates offering services that Batswana are capable of performing. He said the Construction and Industry Trust Fund (CITF) in Kazungula would help equip Batswana enrolled with the necessary skills required by various industries.

 He added that the localisation policy was enacted with the intention to curb the number of expatriates that come into Botswana to provide services that could be provided by Batswana. ENDS