19 Oct 2020

Some residents of Kgomokasitwa have applauded Kanye North MP, Mr Thapelo Letsholo, for tabling a motion to have transportation of goods into the country reserved for Batswana companies.

Responding to Mr Letsholo’s update during a kgotla meeting he addressed recently, they said the motion, which Parliament adopted, could help create many job opportunities for Batswana.

Mr Letsholo had explained that about P2 billion worth of goods came into the country from outside annually.

He said the spirit of the motion was to have citizen owned transport and courier companies ferry the goods across the length and breadth of the nation that he revealed accounted for 10 per cent of the budget.

Although he also applauded the MP for the insight, Mr Nchindo Moreki said the spirit of the legislation would be overshadowed by what he described as inherently low wages cutting across different sectors of the economy.

Mr Moreki said if low wages especially across the transport sector were not addressed, the law would only create low paying jobs and benefit company owners more, than touching and changing lives as many could have wished.

Mr Letsholo however urged residents to look out for the regulations thereof to be floated on the government gazette and advise accordingly. He said their contribution could help make the law more expedient for Batswana.

Mr Letsholo further apprised residents that Parliament also gave his motion to empower Botswana Television (Btv) enough to purchase more local content, the green light.

This he said, would help many young creatives sustain themselves through their craft and reduce the rate of unemployment especially among the youth.

To this end, he shared that he would soon introduce a television production incubation centre in Kanye to equip young people with requisite skills to produce content and sell to Btv.

He said the centre was in sync with President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi’s vision of creating Botswood, an ambitious platform that would propel creatives to heights.

He said he was alive to the fact that many young people were passionate about producing television programmes but hamstrung by a lack of resources.

Mr Letsholo said such nations as Nigeria and Kenya were making the most of opportunities presented by the creative sector. ENDS