25 Nov 2013

There are nine Chinese-owned and operated restaurants in Gaborone, Parliament has been told.

Responding to a question, Assistant Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Keletso Rakhudu said the nine Chinese restaurants had employed a total of 72 people, which comprised of 52 Batswana and 20 Chinese nationals.

He elaborated that in these restaurants, there were three directors of Chinese origin, three managers of Chinese origin and one Motswana manager, while there were 12 chefs and two cashiers of Chinese origin.

He also told the house that only one Motswana worked as a cashier, while five Batswana were cleaners and the restaurant had 24 Batswana waitresses’ and 21 Batswana kitchen assistants. Mr Rakhudu said these Chinese restaurants did not have training programmes in place.

However, he said skills transfer to Botswana in four of these restaurants was done through on the job training, on customer service and food preparation.

The Kanye South Member of Parliament, Mr Abram Kesupile had asked him whether it was true that there were Chinese owned and Chinese operated restaurants in Gaborone.

He wanted the minister to state the number of such restaurants as well as the average number of Batswana and Chinese employees in each restaurant.

He also wanted to know the positions held by Chinese and Batswana in these restaurants as well as the number of restaurants with training programmes and the skills for which locals are being trained. Ends