13 Nov 2023

Members of Parliament have been advised to detail their questions well to allow responsible ministers to give adequate responses.

The Vice President and Leader of the House, Mr Slumber Tsogwane in Parliament on Friday after Selebi Phikwe West legislator, who is also the Leader of Opposition, Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse had noticed a minister question concerning the status of the BCL mine’s liquidation.

Mr Tsogwane said asking a detailed question would enable the responsible minister to do justice to the question.

“Asking a detailed question would only be fair to the responsible minister because it will give them a chance to do research, unlike giving them a vague question only for the poser to include more details on the floor. In that way, the respondent will not be able to do justice to the question,” he said.

Even though he was amenable to the advice, Mr Keorapetse indicated that the practice with noticed minister’s question had been that they were usually brief, with the poser given a chance to expand it when they motivated it on the floor.

“This is more so that this particular question is asked annually with request for the same details. Under normal circumstances, the minister should always have the details at hand, and if he doesn’t, he always has that liberty to provide them later,” he said.

The Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Phandu Skelemani also agreed that adding more details on the floor always put the respondent at the risk of giving a vague response.

“When I heard the details that were not in the noticed question I assumed that the poser and the respondent discussed the details prior,” he said.

Unlike the normal questions asked in Parliament, during the minister’s question time, the poser is usually given time to motivate their questions, explaining reasons for their importance.

When he motivated his question, Mr Keorapetse had requested the Minister of Minerals and Energy, Mr Lefoko Moagi to give an update on the progress of the liquidation of BCL mine.

He wanted the update to detail how many assets of the mine have been sold, whether Batswana were given priority on buying the assets and any evidence of such.

He also enquired on when government would pay former employees whom it promised to pay for 12 to 18 months after lay off.

Mr Keorapetse had also asked if the minister was aware that some former employees were jailed because of debts, and that most of them had nothing to show after over 40 years of service to the mine. 

He had also asked the minister whether it was true that there was a chance of water table contamination by the South East Extension and the Number three shafts. Ends