02 Dec 2018

Opposition legislators, Jwaneng-Mabule Member of Parliament (MP), Mr Shaun Ntlhaile and Gabane-Mankgodi representative, Major General Pius Mokgware have decried the levels of poverty and unemployment in the country.

Responding to the State-of-the-Nation-Address (SONA), the MPs said despite the country having abundant natural resources, they had not yet been properly harnessed to addressed the socio-economic conditions of the majority of Batswana.

“The SONA is a glaring admission that after 52 years in government, the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) has not come up with tangible solutions to empowering Batswana despite the country having a small population and an abundance of resources.  The problem is that the BDP pursues a capitalist path to development, which ensures the rich and business-savvy benefit while the majority remain impoverished,” Mr Ntlhaile said.

As an alternative, he said the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) in government would pursue a Social Democratic Programme, ‘with a mixed economy and with an emphasis on the socialist component to ensure better redistribution of wealth.He criticised the privatisation of state enterprises saying that the exercise would only benefit big business and the wealthy in society to the detriment of the ordinary Motswana.

“The government should stop confusing inefficiency in parastatals with ownership structure; we could ensure that our public enterprises become efficient without privatisation. We also have a huge gap between the lowest and highest paid workers in the civil service, and a low national minimum wage, which contributes to the growing gap between the rich and poor,” Mr Ntlhaile said.

He further complained about poor access to water in the Jwaneng-Mabutsane constituency, saying that the rehabilitation of well water in villages such as Khakhea and Kokong would assist the situation.  He also said that some other villages were surrounded by leased farms that were no longer used by their tenants, which had stalled access to land for villagers.

Maj. Gen. Mokgware said some people in Gabane-Mankgodi constituency had not been allocated land for a very long time.

As a consequence, he said some households hosted three generations of the same families, as the younger ones struggle to get their own plots.

Also, he said workers were exploited, citing those in the security industry, saying they were underpaid, abused and fired with impunity.  

Maj.Gen. Mokgware also called for a living wage protection for workers in the farming industry.

Furthermore, he said illegal sand mining takes place in his constituency to benefit the construction industry in Gaborone, while refuse material from the city was dumped in villages in the Gabane-Mmankgodi area.

He added that the constituency was in dire need of development projects adding that he was disappointed that the area had been excluded from the mini stadiums that were to be constructed countrywide.

He also called on government to address corruption, saying a forensic audit into the financial dealings of the Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund was necessary. Ends