13 Aug 2025

Following requests from other councils to upgrade certain villages to towns, government has acceded to the request to upgrade Maun to a city.

This was revealed by Minister of Local Government and Traditional Affairs, Mr Ketlhalefile Motshegwa when responding to a question in Parliament on August 12.

He said the upgrading exercise commenced with consultations by the local authority on May to pave way for inclusive consultations with all stakeholders and members of the community.

The minister said the initial projected timelines were to complete the consultation phase, which formed the baseline expected by August, but would be subjected to review due to other overlapping activities.

He said the upgrading of a village to a town or city was work in progress whose speed would be determined by the availability of all the needed resources during the planning processes.

Mr Motshegwa further explained that for Maun to attain full international city recognition, more resources would be needed, therefore it would also be important to take into consideration the current fiscal situation.

Highlighting why government acceded to the request, he said the current level of infrastructure development in Maun qualified it to be a city as per the Botswana National Spatial Plan (NSP) 2036 and owing to its unique ecological attributes.

He said the Maun Development Plan 2023-2043, which was aligned to the NSP 2036, would promote and capitalise on the local tourism potential and called for a deliberate intention to plan and govern it as a full tourism destination.

He said the spatial plans emphasised on the uniqueness of Maun and assigned it to high level of national urban status in the form of a tourism city as opposed to the current city model of Gaborone and Francistown.

He further said the National Spatial Plan envisioned Maun as the capital of the western part of the country as it was strategically located to form part of the green preserve and serve as a basis for thriving sustainable world class tourism-based economy.

Member of Parliament for Maun North and also the Leader of Opposition, Mr Dumelang Saleshando had asked the minister to state if decisions to turn Maun into a city had been made and if the answer was in the affirmative, he should state the timeline within which, this would be achieved.

Mr Saleshando also asked if the infrastructure and resources required for this development would be achieved within the set timeline and if the city would be in any way modelled differently from the two other existing cities. ENDS