27 Nov 2018

 Botswana Land Board and Local Authorities and Health Workers Union (BLLAHWU) has been commended for initiatives among them the burial society, which is of service to the community.

Speaking during the BLLAHWU annual general meeting in Palapye recently, the Assistant Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Mr Moiseraele Goya said such initiatives were important, taking into cognisance the fact that bereavement put families on huge economic pressure that catches them off guard when the grim reaper shows up unannounced.

“The government is determined to eradicate poverty and mutual assistance associations like metshelo and burial societies play an important role in the fight against poverty. 

This is one of the ways in which burial societies function as national development partners,” Goya said.

He added that on the basis of the proposition, burial societies were part of a culture and it was in their interest to preserve them because they were part of a cultural heritage that made people better social beings. 

He pointed out that burial societies provide an important service to society, noting that the next logical order of business should be protecting them from being infiltrated by unscrupulous people who cause embezzlement of funds or transforming societies into Ponzi schemes leading to the collapse of burial societies and poor people denied decent burials. 

“Burial societies make a significant contribution to Botswana’s GDP, therefore they should erect all the necessary guardrails to ensure that they do not fall victims of vultures who are already circling overhead and getting ready to swoop down and snatch your hard-earned money,” Mr Goya cautioned. 

Mr Goya, who is also MP for Palapye, said burial societies were expected to conduct their business in line with the Societies Act because local burial societies were largely self-regulating. 

He noted that community-driven mutual assistance associations such as burial societies functioned better if they were freed of bureaucratic constraints. 

He said this normally applied to more formal corporate entities, adding that less regulation could lead to inefficiency and internal chaos as well as give rise to all manner of fund leakages. ENDS