19 Aug 2020

Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry has 17 businesses reserved under the Trade Act, 2019, Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry, Mr Karabo Gare, told Parliament on August 18.

Responding to a question from Palapye MP, Mr Onneetse Ramogapi, the assistant Minister said these businesses consisted of Auctioneers, Agent, Car wash, cleaning services, Curio shop, Dry-clean depot, florist, fresh produce, funeral parlour, general dealer, general hire service, hair or beauty parlour, internet café, Laundromat, copy shop, cellphone shop, take away and pre-owned Motor dealer.

Mr Gare further said the Liquor Act, 2003, had reserved four licenses for citizens which included Bar liquor, Discotheque or Night Club liquor, Liquor Depot and Bottle Store.“Furthermore, the Industrial Development Act, 2019 has also reserved 21 Manufacturing licenses for Batswana and these include Bread and Confectionery, Ice Making, Meat processing, water purification and bottling, production of bricks, school uniform and packaging,” he explained.

Mr Gare said the micro and small enterprises had been exempted from the provisions such as zoning which enabled them to operate activities such as bakery, small scale packaging, jam making, sewing and knitting, and traditional crafts in backyards.

Regarding government tenders, the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Board(PPADB) Act and the Local Authority Procurement and Asset (LAPAD) Act provided for reservation and preference margins in government tenders, in order to promote citizen participation.

Mr Gare also said the reservation included certain work tenders for citizens and implementing preference margins for different segments of the society including Youth, People with disability and women.

“Government has recently taken a decision to reserve public tenders of all procurement categories valued at P10 million for all citizen-owned businesses. As such the Citizen Economic Empowerment Law that is under development is intended to enforce compliance to these reservations,” Mr Gare stated.

He further said he was aware that some chain shops sold airtime, chicken byproducts and hooves.

He stated that these activities were undertaken in line with the Trade Act, 2019, which classified a business by activity and not by product.

“ It should also be noted that in all chain shops that are owned by non-citizens, reserved business activities within these stores such as bakeries, butcheries/fresh produce and takeaways are operated by citizens” Mr Gare said.

Mr Gare also stated that his ministry did not define tenderprenuers as per the Oxford English Contemporary Dictionary definition which has been adopted by government. 

Mr Ramogapi had asked the assistant minister if he was aware of the problem brought about by tenderprenuers who were referred to as investors and if so, what was the minister doing to remedy the problem.

Mr Ramogapi also wanted the minister to state the number of businesses reserved for Batswana including government tenders in all sectors and if he was aware that some chain shops were selling airtime, chicken by products and cow hooves that could be sold by Batswana. He further asked what interventions had been put in place to address the problem. Ends