10 Feb 2020

Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Dr Thapelo Matsheka has encouraged Batswana to buy goods from local manufacturing firms.

Speaking on Friday during a tour of Lobatse Canvass factory, Dr Matsheka pointed that local manufacturing companies needed to have more access to the market in order to grow and provide more employment.

He said a thriving manufacturing sector would assist in the development of the economy.

Dr Matsheka added that companies which manufactured or sourced goods locally should have priority for government tenders.

“Our manufacturing companies like Lobatse Canvas compete for government tenders against companies that import goods at cheaper prices from abroad. They end up losing those tenders, and by so doing we lose jobs which could have been kept in our economy,” said the minister.

He said government would do its best to support citizen owned businesses.

“We are going to be more deliberate about it. When businesses are still in a state of development their cost per unit is a bit higher compared to big companies from countries like China. We have to accept those higher prices as government to be able to sustain jobs in our country,” he added.

Lobatse canvas director, Mr Wouter Mol explained that their company manufactured a variety of products such as tents, beds, chairs and water bags using canvas. Mr Mol also said they manufactured berets.

He said the company started operating in 1963 and boasts of 60 employees.

“We used to employ close to 120 people but were forced to reduce the number after the industry economics downturned a little bit. But we have continued to maintain ourselves and we service the local market and also do some exports,” he said.

He said they exported to countries such as Zimbabwe, Zambia, Angola, South Africa and Swaziland. ENDS