14 Dec 2022

Minister of Entrepreneurship Mr Karabo Gare says the human and social development chapter of the Transitional National Development Plan is aligned with the ruling party’s promises to develop Batswana.

He was responding to debates on chapter seven of the development plan, which focuses on human and social development in Parliament on Tuesday. Mr Gare said the chapter talked to part of the ruling BDPs promises of putting Batswana first.

Mr Gare, who is also MP for Moshupa/Manyana, said sustainable strategies had been developed to ensure economic inclusion and participation by all citizens with government opening equitable access to services and opportunities.

Mr Gare said several programmes such as CEDA’s Letlhabile focused on uplifting the informal sector that had been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the ministry had established a programme to uplift cooperatives and appealed to MPs to encourage cooperatives to come on board.

He said the issue of human and social development was addressed through various policies such as the economic inclusion act and the 2019 entrepreneurship strategy.

Mr Gare said lack of proper healthcare infrastructure in areas such as Moshupa with a population of more than 58 000 was worrisome.

He said internal roads in his constituency was also not up to standard and it reversed gains in agric. production in areas such as Pitseng.

He said government must expedite the development manager approach in the construction of internal roads.

For his part, Boteti East MP, Mr Sethomo Lelatisitswe said government had serious intentions of developing the social well-being of Batswana.

He said Boteti, starting from Makalamabedi to Xere all the way to Khwee and Mosu was widespread and lacked resources to reach services.

He said the area was ideal for a district hospital, which was necessary to avoid distant referrals such as Maun, Francistown and Serowe.

He said the transitional NDP would come in handy and appealed to accounting officers to speed it up to establish such a facility.

Mr Lelatisitswe, who is also Assistant Minister of Health, said all programmes related to primary health must be considered for the settlements in Boteti.

He said human and wildlife conflict in the area was a serious concern for communities in Boteti, adding that the conflict resulted in loss of human life and exacerbated poverty in the region.

He said last year mining companies developed a framework for Letlhakane and Jwaneng, a detailed analysis of how communities around the mining areas could be assisted, but the report had not been implemented as yet.

He urged the Ministry of Entrepreneurship to open offices in rural areas and educate citizens on the benefits of some programmes.

MP for Palapye, Mr Onneetse Ramogapi urged government to start by reviewing old age pension, which did not tally with human and social development intentions.

He also pleaded with government to look into wages of internships, Tirelo Setshaba and volunteer scheme, which were below the threshold.

Mr Ramogapi said government should set up a national health insurance for the unemployed, saying this would allow citizens to enjoy better healthcare even across the border.

He said it was high time the unemployment benefit was established like it was in other countries, adding that the unemployed deserved an allowance fas it was the responsibility of government to create employment.

He said youth programmes needed support from government to avoid past failures and lack of repayments on their part.

On arts and cultural development, Mr Ramogapi said to realise the ideals of generating income through the creatives government had to have a fair and balanced approach rather than having the same artistes benefitting all the time. ENDS