12 Feb 2020

Leader of Minority Parties in Parliament, Francistown South legislator, Mr Wynter Mmolotsi has said the 2020/21 national budget does not adequately address the challenges faced by the country.

Debating the 2020/2021 Budget Proposals in Parliament on Tuesday, Mr Mmolotsi said government’s actions were not aligned with what it said it would do.

He said the upper income bracket, which the government was aiming for, would not automatically address challenges such as unemployment, poverty, landlessness, poor education and health.

Mr Mmolotsi said government talked about the need for economic transformation, macro-economc stability, greater socio-economic inclusion, improved quality of public services, the changing world of diamonds and climate change.

Further, the government talks about developing an export-led economy and efficient government spending, building human capital and provision of appropriate infrastructure, but he said these are not adequately addressed in the budget speech presented by Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Dr Thapelo Matsheka early this month.

“The government’s posture has been that of more talk and less delivery,” he said.

Mr Mmolotsi said Batswana continued to toil under difficult conditions, not having easy access to water, quality healthcare and quality education.

The only elected member of the Alliance for Progressives in Parliament said Botswana’s healthcare system was under ICU, unable to provide even basic medicines with patients forced to sleep on the floor and ‘it takes a long time to see specialists.’

MP Mmolotsi said Botswana faced high levels of unemployment.

He also said he was not impressed by the performance of parastatal organisations such as Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) and said under the AP, the entity could become a global company managing the beef industry in the region.

The Francistown South legislator said the BMC monopoly had to end and instead, a regulatory body be established to regulate hygiene and fairness in the procurement of cattle and prices.

He said this would create opportunities for citizens to diversify within the beef sector resulting in the creation of more jobs and poverty would be reduced. MP Mmolotsi further said the budget speech was silent in addressing effects of climate change and said government had promised to develop a climate change policy for a number of years.

He further said the budget had not said anything about the Constitution review, yet it was one of the major campaign tools by the ruling party.

Government had also been criticised for not re-opening the BCL mine as promised.

He further said while creative arts had been recognised as important with potential to create jobs, the budget was silent. ENDS