30 Aug 2020

Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry Infrastructure and Housing Development, Mr Bareng Malatsi says renting privately owned houses to house public servants facilitates citizen empowerment.

Addressing the media on Saturday, Mr Malatsi said to date  12 per cent of the houses occupied by public officers are privately owned.

“Forty-seven per cent of public servants are accommodated in BHC owned houses,” said Mr Malatsi.

He said the current waiting list of employees within the central government eligible to acquire pool houses surpassed 7 000.

In addition, Mr Malatsi said BHC had since 2016 constructed some 465 houses under the Public Officers Housing Initiative (POHI) to further augment accommodation for public workers.

Mr Malatsi said over the years, government had been leasing houses from the private sector, individuals and Botswana Housing Cooperation to augment government pool houses.

He urged the private sector and individual citizens to partner with the government in providing housing for public servants.

“Botswana Housing Cooperation  has since 2016 further constructed 465 Public Officers Housing Initiative (POHI) which will further augment housing stock for officers”

Mr Malatsi said government, through his ministry, was working on reviewing the housing policy to ensure that it responded accordingly to contemporary challenges.

Furthermore, Mr Malatsi said government, through housing schemes in place, has since 2016, constructed 5 392 turnkey SHHA units across the country, while 2 555 destitute houses were built between 2009 and 2019.

He said government was also revamping the Integrated Poverty and Housing Scheme initiative to be at par with accommodation challenges of the current times.

Mr Malatsi said the primary mandate of his ministry was to ensure that Batswana were at an advantage in home ownership as a way of transforming the country into middle income economy.  

Moreover, Mr Malatsi said shelter was a safe haven, protecting human beings against harsh weather conditions and therefore was even more critical under the new normal as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic as people were advised to stay at home and curb the spread of the coronavirus. Ends