11 Feb 2025

Budget allocated to State Owned Enterprises (SOE) will transform them into high performance organisations that deliver on their mandate, Vice President and Minister of Finance, Mr Ndaba Gaolathe says.

Delivering his maiden budget speech yesterday, he said government was focused on paying delicate and special attention to SOEs with a view to bring out the best in them and use them as a lever to significantly reduce costs of doing business.

“We are also determined to transform our SOEs into engines of wealth creation for the larger population by re-configuring and up-scaling some of them into becoming truly global players,” he said.

He said the intention was also to curtail gross wastage and duplication that takes place at some of the enterprises. Mr Gaolathe said the neglect and sometimes outright callous mismanagement of the enterprises by political principals cultivated a culture of wastage and stagnation.

“We are determined to fan the embers for a new progressive culture of good governance, integrity, efficiency, effectiveness and excellence,” he said.

Mr Gaolathe said government was in the process to overhaul the power sector’s legislative framework to separate power generation from power transmission, and repurpose Botswana Power Corporation.

In relation to Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board (BAMB), he said farmers had come up with proposals to re-imagine, refocus and reposition BAMB in order to drive an effective, enabling model and facilitate equitable and fair market access for all farmers.

He pointed out that government was determined to stabilise Botswana Meat Commission by putting in place strong management and securing investment partners to revitalise the company to become a global player.

Mr Gaolathe said Botswana Vaccine Institutein partnership with Meryl of France mastered the art of research and development of vaccines.

He said the manner in which public sector funds enterprises or funds victims of road accidents of medical aids among others was both inefficient and ineffective.

“We are probing and considering options for an overhaul of our funding model towards a comprehensive system for national health insurance and targeted social interventions,” he said.

He said the new model will re-imagine the current arrangement of Citizen Entrepreneurial Agency, Motor Vehicle Accident Fund and other institutions.

Mr Gaolathe said government had started a process facilitate Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS) to unlock its revenue collection potential, aiming to surpass the annual average of P26 billion collection in non-mineral and non-SACU revenue achieved over the past five years.

He said a well managed and efficient BURS could boost revenue collection efficiency by at least 30 to 40 per cent in the next five years. ENDS