04 Oct 2016

Companies have been urged to utilise the training levy from the human resource development fund to train citizen employees.

Speaking in an interview recently, Human Resource Development Council (HRDC), manager-claims assessment, Mr Ndiwo Makula, said there was need for companies to invest in workplace learning and training citizen employees particularly on technical skills to nurture the rather emerging economy of Botswana.    

“Botswana is greatly evolving from being a resource based economy into a knowledge based but the utilisation of the HRDF is still at a sluggish 15 per cent,” he said.

Concerned by low number, Mr Makula said companies should first embark on training analysis to identify the needs of the organisation and train  employees on necessary skills lacking. 

“Back then, Botswana had a high number of expatriates because companies were not training their employees, but we’ve seen a tremendous reduction over the years as companies are slowly warming up to the idea of training citizen employees” Mr Makula observed. 

Mr Makula outlined that HRDF creates partnership between government and the industry. Through this partnership companies are allowed to train their citizen employees and get reimbursed the costs. 

He said this initiative also addresses the problem of educational institutions that produce graduates who are not work-ready. 

He further explained that only companies that make a turnover of P1 million annually, qualify to claim from the HRDF, for training their staff. 

The training levy is a percentage money calculated and deducted from the tax paid by companies to Botswana Unified Revenue Services. At the end of every year, after claims, the remaining funds are distributed to special groups, small medium enterprises (SMMEs), emergent industries and government.

 “I’m quick to say, we don’t want to be allocating these funds, we want levy payers to use them for human resource development”.  Mr Makula amplified.

He pointed out some of the challenges that hinder the smooth progress of the fund. Mr Makula cited low commitment from industries, fraud, issues of accreditation and training providers charging exorbitant prices. 

He also deliberated on what HRDC is doing to address the challenges. 

Mr Makula vehemently advised fraud perpetrators to desist from such criminal acts. He also warned that HRDC is implementing stringent measures to ensure improved management of the fund.

 He said HRDC wa reviewing its regulations to allow for long-term training as the current regulation only provides for short term training as a way to address some of the challenges.   ENDS