20 Jul 2018

Parliament has been informed that as at December 2019, Bank of Botswana (BoB) had only two foreign nationals; director of financial markets department and head of procurement and property management division.

Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Dr Thapelo Matsheka told the house when answering a question on March 17.

The director of financial market department is a British national who holds a Master of Philosophy in Economics obtained from Oxford University in the United Kingdom in 1985.

Dr Matsheka said the officer had served the bank in various capacities as an economist and in the research department for 26 years.

He said prior to joining the bank, he worked as a Fellow, Overseas Development Institute (ODI) from September 1985 to October 1987, attached to the Macroeconomic Section of the then Ministry of Finance and Development Planning in Botswana.

He said subsequent to the foregoing engagement, he was employed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the UK government as an Economist Advisor from October 1987 to July 1990.

From July 1990 to January 1992, he was employed as a macroeconomic advisor, Ministry of Planning, Economic and Manpower Development by the government of Lesotho.

He said in the immediate period prior to employment in the bank, he worked as chief economist, Turks and Caicos Islands government under the auspices of the Overseas Development Administration from April 1992 to 1994.

Meanwhile, Dr Matsheka stated that head of Procurement and Property Management was a citizen of New Zealand, who holds a Bachelor of Engineering Degree from University of Auckland. He served the bank for 19 years in property management and procurement and prior to joining the bank, the incumbent worked for 14 years as an engineer in project management.

Dr Matsheka explained that he was, for five years ,the managing director of a company which specialised in project management and civil engineering and also served as a civil engineer for three years and as a site agent for three years with reputable companies, which did bridge building, major water reticulation schemes, piling and demolition works.

In addition, Dr Matsheka said, he also worked for three years as a site engineer in England on a major road construction project, refurbishment of a historically listed building and in construction of a high-rise steel structure building.

Dr Matsheka stated that ‘the bank has a Staff Development and Training Policy that focuses on short and long term training of staff to localise various critical positions.’

He also said the bank also embarked on a rigorous staff development and training to build the requisite core skills and recruited citizens with relevant qualifications to be groomed as potential successors to the foreign nationals.

Furthermore, he noted that Bank of Botswana and all other government institutions subscribed to the Incomes Policy of Botswana.

As a result, he said, the number of expatriate officers employed by the bank was ten in the year 2 000 and had now reduced to two.

This, he said, resulted in 99.7 per cent of all positions at Bank of Botswana held by citizens and that citizen staff continued to be assessed for readiness for greater level of responsibility.

He said the approach had, over the years served the bank well and reduced reliance on foreign expertise to the current two.

The finance minister further said an assessment was always made at the end of employment and where appropriate, a citizen appointed. “Given the capacity development undertaken and, depending on work requirements and staff performance, the positions will be localised, at an appropriate time,” he said.

Selebi Phikwe West MP, Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse had asked the minister to update Parliament on foreign nationals employed by Bank of Botswana.

In particular, he wanted him to state their positions, qualifications, experience and how long they were employed.

He also wanted the minister to state whether there were Batswana who had been understudying them and whether there were no Batswana who qualified for the jobs.

Mr Keorapetse further wanted to know what Bank of Botswana was doing to localise the positions . Ends