24 Apr 2019

Members of the Tsabong business community recently interrogated the proposed Trade Bill of 2019 pin-pointing various clauses that should be re-drafted to facilitate the ease of doing business.

Speaking during a consultative forum in Tsabong, a restaurant owner in Werda, Mr Tebogo Gaboitaolwe said trade penalties were too steep and should be reduced.

He noted that  a person who operated a business without registering first was to be fined P50 000 while a person who failed to apply to a committee was liable to pay P10 000.

He called for penalties to be reduced as businesses did not make that much money thus such penalties could close businesses.

Mr Tshepho Ramontolo who operates a gym business called for clause 6 under meetings and Proceedings of Committee to not give the decision of the committee the veto power over decisions cautioning that some of the committee members may use emotions and deny one the license despite having met all the requirements.

“When one has met requirements of business why should there be votes, the committee should not be given the powers,” he said.

He also requested for a crèche to be included in the licensing of Trade or business classified under health and safety aspect.

Ms Kerapetse Modisenyane who runs a butchery requested for Trade Laws to be tailor-made  for localities rather than have a blanket law that did not work for businesses in some parts of the country.

Under the Hospitality and Tourism industry, Ms Maggie Stoeffel called for structural buildings and inspections to be done at one shop centre.

She said they worked with local architects on drawing buildings and involving council authorities during the construction phase but the license was ultimately issued in Gaborone by someone who had never seen the buildings.This, she said delayed business as the processes took time.

Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry chief commercial officer in Department of Trade Consumer Affairs Ms Chisani Mualefhe said the 2003 Trade Act was undergoing review with the aim to improve the ease of doing business in Botswana.

She said the ministry was mandated to create a conducive environment for the development of sustainable industries and trade with a view to diversify and grow the economy to create wealth and employment.

Ms Mualefhe said the review of the 2003 act was in line with the approved Doing Business Roadmap which was approved by Cabinet through Presidential Directive CAB (32)(B)/2014.

Thus she said a working partnership was created between the World Bank Group and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development to support economic diversification and competitiveness.

She said the sole objective of the project was to develop and communicate the Doing Business Reforms Roadmap and Implementation Plan.

The World Bank Group was tasked to review the legal and regulatory framework, institution and governance structures currently supporting or constraining the business environment in Botswana. The organisation was to also  design a reform communication strategy, guide government and all relevant stakeholders throughout the implementation.

She said the 2019 Trade Bill sought to amend, the Trade Act, 2003 (CAP 43:02).

The approved Doing Business Roadmap includes three key reforms that have a bearing on the current Trade Act and these  including limiting the number of licenses by moving from positive to negative listing approach.

She said through the bill the ministry sought to abolish inspection of premises for trades that do not pose a threat to public health and safety before venturing into business.

“Instead, inspections would be performed on a risk-based system. We want to shift from ex-ante licensing for trades that do not have immediate health and safety concerns to Ex-Post-checks,” she said.

According to the new bill, businesses with health and safety concerns that required prior operation licensing, she said, were Fresh Produce, Restaurant, Take Away, Funeral Parlour, Gymnasium, Pharmacy or Chemist, Fuel Filling Station, Cosmetics Shop, Optician Shop and Hair and a beauty palour.

She said to deal with the unnecessary delays, business registration had been decentralised and would be done by local authorities.

Thus, the business will now have to register under the Establishment of Licensing and Registration Committee which was previously called a Trade Licensing Committee.

Ms Mualefhe said the clause gave the local committee powers to register any other trade or business within a council area.

The arrangement was designed to enable the committees to comprehensively supervise and monitor trades and businesses carried in their respective council areas.

She emphasised that the difference was that all businesses without immediate health and safety concerns were registered with (Companies and Intellectual Property Authority) CIPA and were allowed to operate and be registered with respective Local Authority after 30 days of operation.

Inspection was done after the business was in operation contrary to the past where inspections were done before trade was allowed.  

She encouraged members of the business community to submit their comments on the Trade Bill 2019 until April 25, 2019.

She added that in future the ministry intended to transfer trades with human safety and public concerns to their respective ministries once the respective acts had been passed by Parliament. ENDS