25 Jul 2013

Assistant Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Keletso Rakhudu says the absence of e-legislation to allow on-line applications and payment for various permits and licenses continues to hamper businesses.

Addressing a kgotla meeting at Tsogang ward on July 23, Mr Rakhudu said in order to address the situation, government had embarked upon an exercise to amongst others, amend or promulgate new laws by July, 2013. He explained that Electronic Communications and Transactions Bill will give legal recognition and functional equivalence to electronic transactions and communications to paper based counterparts (e-commerce and e – signature).

Mr Rakhudu, who is also Member of Parliament for Gaborone North, said his ministry was in the process of reviewing the Cooperatives Societies Act of 1989 to align it with the current economic developments. 

He added that the current bill gives more powers to cooperative board members to deal with issues of grievances and discipline. Furthermore, Mr Rakhudu explained that the bill sets out qualifications for board members, saying rules governing cooperatives have been relaxed to make the  Act achievable.

On sewerage connection project take-over by Water Utilities Corporation from Gaborone City Council (GCC), Mr Rakhudu explained that the council had initially charged the residents P300.00 for sewerage connection but upon taking over the project, WUC increased the fee to P840.00.

He said residents who had already paid the P300. 00 were requested to top up with P540.00, the decision he felt was unfair.He said he was in consultation with the GCC and ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to try and resolve the issue amicably.

The assistant minister requested the ward councilor Ms Veronica Lesole to debate  the issue during one of their full council meetings and come up with recommendations on the way forward.  ENDS