21 Jun 2022

Government is ready to support Africa Confederation of Cooperative Savings and Credit Associations’ (ACCOSCA) idea of considering Botswana as host for next year’s Savings and Credit Cooperative Associations (SACCA) conference.

Vice President Slumber Tsogwane hailed the proposal saying it was a welcome development that would help revamp and resuscitate cooperative societies, which were the backbone of rural livelihoods.

“Hosting is something we are ready for at any time. We welcome the gesture that you are proposing to hold the SACCA conference here.

We are the destination of choice for conferences. As a country we want to benefit from the skills and knowledge of our partners,” he said during a courtesy call by theACCOSCA delegation in Gaborone yesterday.

The delegation is in Botswana to assess facilities for the proposed hosting of the conference. Mr Tsogwane expressed excitement at the proposal saying it was in line with the country’s aspirations to be a conference destination.

He said ACCOSCA’s mission resonated with government’s intention to transform Botswana into a knowledge-based society.

Lamenting the collapse of cooperatives, the vice president said they not only provided rural communities with goods and services, but created employment and acted as financial institutions.

“They used to have their own cooperative bank in Francistown. Today the structure is just a white elephant. We must restore and resuscitate something that used to bring life to our rural communities,”

he said.

Mr Tsogwane said inequalities in livelihoods between rural and urban dwellers must be a thing of the past through the support of structures such as ACCOSCA.

The vice president said organisations such as ACCOSCA were well placed to understand government’s plans and therefore able to come up with measures to aid its vision and address shortcomings.

He said the country’s economy had been dependent on mineral income, but through the Reset Agenda, government was tutoring its people to use their knowledge todiversify revenue sources.

Botswana Savings and Credit Cooperative Association (BOSCCA) chairperson and also ACCOSCA treasurer, Ms Jeanette Makgolo said bringing the SACCA congress to Botswana would not only promote

the Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) movement but would boost the country’s economy.

ACCOSCA executive director, Mr George Ombado said hosting SACCA meeting would have a positive impact on the economy as it usually attracted more than 800 participants.

“Though the country did not bid to host the next conference, we strongly believe that it has the potential to do,” he said.

Explaining that inclusiveness was central to ACCOSCA’s business model, Mr Ombado said the organisation concerned itself with supporting people to have strong financial wellness and derive means of surviving without depending on government.

“The government must onlyestablish an enabling environment through the relevant regulatory framework for the establishment of structures aimed at empowering people economically,” said Mr Ombado.

Ministry of Trade and Industry deputy permanent secretary, Mr Lameck Nthekela said he was confident that the conference would be important to Botswana as it was in line with its economic development agenda.

ACCOSCA is a nongovernmental, non-political and Pan-African confederation of SACCOs with its secretariat in Nairobi, Kenya.

Its operations are geared towards improving the lives of communities through the cooperative model and instilling the spirit of self-reliance.

BOPA