10 Mar 2025

Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) government is on course to build one of the best-managed countries on the African continent.

 “To achieve this, we have to devise a decisive transformational plan that will restore the country’s financial stability and sufficiency that has eluded us for years on end,” said Vice President and Minister of Finance, Mr Ndaba Gaolathe during an interaction session with the city of Francistown’s leadership at the Civic Centre, Friday.

Only then, he said, would the country’s purse be able to meet numerous competing needs, including better remunerations, infrastructure, health and many others.

To this end, he said government was working round the clock to create a country premised on unity and fairness, where every citizen would be given equal opportunities.

He reiterated that interactions such as the one he had with the second city’s leadership were appropriate springboards for bouncing off ideas, developing further and bettering the lives of the Batswana.

During the meeting, he said Botswana needed to diversify and devise alternative sources of revenue to stabilise the economy, which had a long-run deficit.

“We should be wary and avoid the pitfalls of reckless borrowing that could plunge the country into financial doldrums, but look for other ways to generate revenue,” he said, adding that patriotic people should formulate transformative ways and deliberate plans to turn things around for the better.

Mr Gaolathe said robust infrastructural development, including water sufficiency, would be among the top priorities for the UDC government and that plans were afoot to secure partnerships that would help pump water from major rivers in the north. 

This move, he said, was expected to prop up agricultural production and the envisaged industrialisation.

He said economically sound and industrialised nations had achieved their enviable status, due to robust infrastructural ecosystems that drove thriving economies.

He noted that rail and road networks would formed part of the infrastructure development to ease trade inside and outside the country.

Mr Gaolathe also apprised the city’s top brass about his recent visit to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he engaged with various key stakeholders of the oil-rich Arab nation to consider doing business with Botswana.

Once bagged, part of the deal will ensure Botswana gets oil at nominal prices and becomes a distribution point, further catapulting the country’s economic standing.

Furthermore, Mr Gaolathe said the government planned to augment power generation to 8 000 megawatts in order to ensure self-sufficiency and export surplus power to other countries.

The city’s leadership also learned that State Owned Enterprises and other existing Smart Partnerships were under the radar of scrutiny by the new government to breathe life into them. Resuscitating entities such as the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC), which used to be the pride of every farmer, he said, called for the laws governing them to be changed immediately so they became true money-spinners.

He said the country was also on a crusade to foster and build synergies with like-minded partners and nations to further Botswana’s development.

He stated that the creation of the Sovereign Fund, a wealth generation account, would soon take shape to further strengthen the country’s financial muscle.

When briefing the Vice President, City Mayor Gaone Majere said Francistown had been adversely affected by the closure of BMC and the mines, leaving many people languishing in poverty.

Thus, he called on the country’s leadership to intervene and augment the plans and mechanisms put in place by the city leadership to revive the Francistown economic landscape. He said the state of schools and health facilities left much to be desired and needed immediate attention.

Recent rains, he added, had dealt a hard blow to the city’s road networks.

Mr Humphrey Nawa, principal director for Nawa Architects, called on the government to recommit and ensure that Francistown became a true transport and logistics hub in word and deed, as per the Special Economic Zone Authority Act.

He also opined that decentralising specific ministries, especially those related to minerals in Francistown, would revitalise the city.

Ms Rebonyeng Hick of Ziha Investment wanted deliberate effort by the government to empower women, especially those in business, saying they had displayed a knack within the dog-eat-dog business space.

She also pleaded with government to pay up companies doing business with it without delay.

The government, she stated, had not been doing well in that area, which she said crippled local businesses that did not have considerable financials to cushion them during business dry spells.

Francistown East legislator, Mr Tiroeaone Ntsima said the hopes of Francistowners were in the hands of government.

The ball, he concluded, was thus in the court of the new administration to live up to its promises and change the lives of the dwellers of one of the oldest cities in Botswana. ENDS