02 Dec 2013

Statistics Botswana includes the numbers of people engaged in Ipelegeng when computing the unemployment rate of the country.

Finance and development planning minister, Mr Kenneth Matambo said this when responding to a question in Parliament from Kanye North MP, Mr Kentse Rammidi.

This, Mr Matambo said, was because Botswana subscribed to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) definition of employment, which he said “described an employed person as someone within the working age group, who during the reference period, performed some economic activity, either formal or informal.”

Ipelegeng workers, he said, were engaged on a rotational basis for a period not exceeding three consecutive months. Therefore, he said it was not feasible to provide how much an Ipelegeng worker earned per annum as they were not engaged for the whole year. However, the minister said currently an Ipelegeng labourer earned P480 per month, whilst a supervisor earned P560 per month.

Mr Rammidi had asked Mr Matambo, whether Statistics Botswana included the numbers of people engaged in Ipelegeng as employed when computing the unemployment rate of the country and how much an Ipelegeng employee earned per annum from the scheme. ENDS