17 Mar 2022

 Parliament has heard that there are many retail businesses that are licensed under the Trade Act, 2020 and its subsidiary legislation that are eligible to sell cooked food. 

This was said by Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Setlhabelo Modukanele on Monday when answering a parliamentary question on behalf of Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry. 

Mr Modukanele said such included department stores, fresh produce, general dealers, supermarkets, restaurants and takeaways. 

“There is no prescription on the type of food to be cooked at such stores. I only have the information with respect to businesses that are licensed under the Trade Act and therefore I am not in a position to know if the owners of these retail businesses simultaneously operate farms,” he said. 

MPs were also told that the law allowed either a department store or supermarket to house a takeaway business and fresh produce within its licensed premises provided that takeaway business or fresh produce was operated by citizens or companies wholly-owned by citizens. 

They also heard that the Trade Act did not limit the number of businesses that one can operate as long as they complied.

 “In my opinion, various licences create job opportunities to Batswana,” Mr Modukanele stated. 

He indicated that the Competition and Consumer Authority (CCA)’s core function was to prevent and redress anti-competitive practices in the economy as well as protect consumer rights through investigation and control of unfair business practices. “These powers are vested in the two pieces of Legislation being; 

The Competition Act of 2018 and the Consumer Protection Act of 2018. 

The Competition Act does not restrict the operation of enterprises across the value chain, business operation is a function of the trade license,” he said. 

Again, MPs also heard that enterprises were only subjected to regulatory (Competition) scrutiny whenever they sought to buy existing business enterprises, saying “at that point merger control processes would kick-in. 

The purpose of the merger control process, amongst other things is to maintain effective competition in the market place. 

The Authority would ensure that a vertical merger does not facilitate the foreclosure of a downstream competing firm.” 

The minister further told MPs that the CCA was currently carrying out an investigation on possible abuse of dominance that could be a result of vertical agreements by some major local supermarket retailers. 

Thus, he said there was no need to amend the law as various statutes including council bye laws provided for opportunities for various operators including small and micro business operators to sell cooked food. 

“The ministry has always and will continue to use Statutory Instruments to empower citizens,” he added.

Gaborone Central legislator, Mr Tumisang Mangwegape-Healy, had asked the minister to name retail stores in Botswana which, in addition to their retail business operations, also operated farms/feedlots, poultry farms, grow vegetables for sale at their stores and also sold cooked foodstuffs.

Mr Mangwegape-Healy also wanted to know if the sale of cooked foodstuffs was part of their ordinary retail license or they had to augment their licenses by applying for special licenses to the minister in order for them to also sell such. 

He further asked if issuing such compounded licenses did not defeat government’s vision of income distribution and employment creation. 

The minister was also to state core functions of the Competition and Consumer Authority and if in his view such retail stores were not violating the competition legislation by occupying the entire value chain of retailing. 

Mr Mangwegape-Healy further wanted to establish what it would take, in terms of legislation or policy adjustment, to ensure that such retail stores ceased to sell foodstuffs and hive off that operation to be undertaken by ordinary unemployed Batswana. BOPA