16 Feb 2021

Minister of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology Dr Douglas Letsholathebe says investment in research and innovation can yield new sources of income to broaden national economic revenue streams.

Speaking at the National Assembly on Monday as part of the Budget Speech debate, Dr Letsholathebe, who is also the Tati East Member of Parliament, said scientific research and knowledge systems were proving to be profitable for other countries and could have similar effects in Botswana. Dr Letsholathebe said research and innovation could create new sources of wealth and aid in diversifying an economy that had been heavily reliant on diamond mining.

He said over the years, Botswana invested a lot in the education of its people and there was a need for trained scientific professionals to work with knowledgeable citizens to promote and commercialise indigenous knowledge systems.

Dr Letsholathebe said modern satellite systems could also be utilised to improve existing industries such as tourism and agriculture. 

On tertiary education financing, Dr Letsholathebe said his ministry encouraged dialogue around able citizens assisting the government to sponsor tertiary students. 

He said his ministry did not want to disadvantage any Motswana student and in the immediate future they were committed to continue to pay tuition fees for all deserving students. 

But he said they were considering having parents with higher levels of income to assist with paying monthly allowances for their government sponsored students.  

Dr Letsholathebe, while pleased with the continued availing of funds for tertiary education financing, he expressed concern that many youths graduated into unemployment. 

He suggested that government should work on assisting graduates gain employment even outside the country where they could gain exposure.

While supporting the government decision to focus on implementing high impact development programmes, Dr Letsholathebe said constituencies such as his could lag behind if careful consideration was not taken to balance that with financing low scale rural projects.

Dr Letsholathebe said he hoped the Ntimbale Dam project would be completed on time and within budget as the development had been highly anticipated in Tati East.

He said his constituency was also looking forward to the Masunga-Tshesebe and Francistown-Matsiloje roads and he further called for the rehabilitation of internal roads and storm water drainage systems in the Tati East villages. Ends