09 Dec 2019

Gaborone Bonnington South MP Mr Christian Greeff has advised on the need to afford businesses equal opportunities by introducing strategies that will minimise favouritism and corruption.

In his contribution to the State-Of-The-Nation address, Mr Greeff said a lot could be done to ensure fair play by adopting a transparent and inclusive digitalised tender management system for small businesses.

Mr Greeff complained of irregular tender awarding processes which he said tended to favour a certain group of people. 

“Currently there are many youths with registered companies who are unable to actively participate in the economy by creating meaningful jobs to sustain themselves as tenders circulate the same people all the times,” he said

Mr Greeff acknowledged government’s appreciation of the SMME in meeting the national development objectives.

 He, however, said the delay in processing payments to SMMEs after service delivery was a drawback to government’s efforts of empowering SMMEs and it had also led to the collapse of many.

The MP said since SMMEs were fundamental to employment creation and economic diversification, government should come up with a law that would ensure that SMMEs were paid for work done within 30 days.

 Mr Greeff further pleaded with the mining sector to engage citizen suppliers in their value chain, highlighting a concern in respect to certain job categories that he said were awarded to expatriates at the expense of locals who possess similar qualifications.

He said it was disturbing that there were foreigners in his constituency who operated businesses that should be reserved for locals.

 He challenged the government to also expedite the Lephalale-Botswana railway line given its potential to unlock the country’s coal potential through market access to Mozambique and South Africa.

 Concerning education, Mr Greeff raised a concern on the overcrowding of pupils in classrooms, indicating that the current pupil-teacher ratio was around 47:1 in his constituency.  

The ratio, he said, was a disadvantage to both the teacher and the pupil as it impacted negatively on the quality of education.

 He, therefore, pleaded for the construction of a primary school in Phase 4 as well as construction of additional classrooms in the existing schools to address the challenge.

Further, he applauded the Gaborone integrated transport project saying it was long overdue. He, however, pointed that the re was an omission of pedestrian bridges advising that there should be provision for carriages  used for disabled people.

 He said it would be worthwhile if the stormwater drainage system was constructed in his constituency as well as the installation of solar-powered street lights.

 Mr Greeff also implored the Ministry of Health and Wellness to transform the Gaborone West Phase 1 clinic to operate on a 24-hour basis given the number of people it served, as well as to augment the ambulances. ENDS