25 Sep 2018

It is the private sector and not government that is not buying locally produced goods, Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration Mr Nonofo Molefhi has said.

Speaking at the Poverty Eradication Value Chain breakfast meeting in Gaborone on September 24, Minister Molefhi said the private sector preferred similar products from across the borders.

“This may ultimately lead to enactment of a law that prohibits and forbid importation of certain goods if such goods are produced in Botswana,” he said.

The private sector, he said, had expressed concern  that government was not buying locally produced goods but instead spent public funds on foreign-produced goods when there were similar goods produced in Botswana.

Mr Molefhi said government spent millions of Pula on poverty eradication initiatives but the missing link had always been on how best to get products to  local markets.

He stressed the importance of developing linkages between production and markets.

Mr Molefhi said Botswana had the opportunity of using World Trade Organisation (WTO) provision of infant industries where they provided support and procurement from local companies,.

He however said it should be borne in mind that WTO rules and regulations prohibited importation of goods around the world, particularly within the SACU region.

The minister said there was need to look at what instruments were at their disposal that could be applied to facilitate procurement of locally produced goods and services.

Mr Molefhi said when poverty alleviation project started, there were ‘doubting Thomases’ who thought it was not doable.

Though the country might not have recorded the greatest of successes, he said, there were demonstrations that some were there.

“There are some projects which have created impact and these are the projects that we should nurture, support, encourage and emulate,” he said.

Mr Molefhi urged academia to invest time on applied research that would bring food to the table.

Poverty Eradication Programme national coordinator Mr Montshiwa Montshiwa said with 25 000 businesses operating, it was important to come up with ways of ensuring that they stayed relevant, economically viable and sustainable.

He noted that there was a lot of capital investment saying to date P1.2 billion had been put into the programme.

“It is on that basis that we developed value chains for all beneficiary packages to guide future packaging to avoid over-subscription of the same packaging at any given time and location, identify gaps within the value chains for the purpose of addressing that for self-sustaining value chains,” he said.

He said the value chain approach ensured integration of operational functions, logistical activities, supply chains as well as marketing. ENDS