31 Mar 2022

Government ought to make a deliberate plan to ensure that majority of revenue from the mineral resources goes into its coffers as well as citizen-owned companies. 

This was said by Bobonong MP, Mr Taolo Lucas  when debating the 2022 Botswana Minerals Policy in Parliament on Wednesday.

Mr Lucas said the current scenario indicated that minerals resources from Botswana benefitted foreign investors more than they did the locals and government. 

That, he said was particularly for the diamonds industry, where the 50/50 financial benefits from the partnership between government and De Beers was skewed towards De Beers. 

“Going forward, we should ensure that the country benefits more in terms of financial shares from mining partnerships because the minerals are from our country,” he said. The legislator added that there should be a law that enforced mines to give government or citizen-owned companies at least 25 per cent stake in all mines in Botswana. He said such scenario would ensure that government and citizens benefitted more financially from mineral resources. 

Mr Lucas also said refining of resources mined in Botswana should be carried out locally to ensure maximum beneficiation from the resources. 

“We are lagging behind in terms of beneficiation. The soda ash mined in Botswana is transported all the way to South Africa and we later buy salt from them,” he said. 

He said soda ash refineries should be built in Botswana to process salt and other by products such as cleaning chemicals and create jobs and wealth for Batswana. 

Nata/Gweta MP, Mr Polson Majaga said the Minerals Policy was overdue, indicating that it was time Botswana maximised benefits from the mineral sector because the country was endowed with mineral resources. Mr Majaga further asked for liberalisation of the diamond industry. 

“The industry should be opened up so that we see small companies and agents participating in it,” he said. He pointed that more jobs would be created from the industry if it was opened up. 

Molepolole North MP, Mr Oabile Regoeng also welcomed the policy. Mr Regoeng however said the policy should facilitate for more Batswana to enter the mining industry. He said Batswana were now educated and skilled enough to become competitive in the mining industry. Ngami MP, Mr Caterpillar Hikuama said the policy was well crafted and would lead to exploitation of mineral resources revenue if implemented properly. He however challenged government to develop a deliberate programme of facilitating citizens to establish mining companies. 

Presenting the policy earlier, Minister of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security, Mr Lefoko Moagi explained that it focused on the situational analysis of the mineral sector, the business climate and investment attraction as well as development of different minerals, amongst others. 

Mr Moagi also said the policy looked at small scale mining, synthetic minerals as well as monitoring and evaluation of implementation of the policy itself. 

He added that the policy aimed at maximising national benefits from minerals while also providing a competitive environment for investment in the mining sector. ends