15 Dec 2025

Parliament has voted in favour of the approximately P584 million loan for the Health Emergency Response and Resilience Project.
The loan facility, comprising US$40 million from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and a grant of US$3 million from the Liveable Planet Fund, was passed by Parliament on Thursday with only one out of 29 present members voting against the bill.
The Emergency Preparedness Response and Resilience Project, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) Loan Authorisation Bill, 2025 (Bill No. 34 of 2025), authorises the government to raise a loan from IBRD for the Health Emergency Preparedness Response and Resilience (HEPRR) project.
Before its passing, Vice President and Minister of Finance, Mr Ndaba Gaolathe, thanked Members of Parliament for the overwhelming support of the bill during their deliberations.
He explained that the loan would aid in laying a solid foundation in closing gaps in the health sector, which had contributed to the current challenges.
Thus, he said the loan would ensure that future generations enjoyed better healthcare.
The money would, among other things, help to address supply chain digitalisation, and the impact of the facility would be felt throughout the country, Mr Gaolathe said, further explaining that the grant would go towards establishing the project office, to ensure that expenditure was on the intended purpose.
Mr Gaolathe said the loan would be used for addressing health emergencies in the health sector, noting that the country was unprepared for emergencies, just as it was during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a result, the country cannot afford to traverse the same route of unpreparedness, and fail to protect its people, Mr Gaolathe said, further stating that the loan facility came with better terms of payment, a lower interest rate, and payment terms.
When Parliament passed the country’s budget earlier this year, Mr Gaolathe said, it did so with a deficit, which the government had to address, and it could only raise the money through its own sources or through borrowing, which he assured that was within set borrowing limit range of less than 40 per cent of its Gross Domestic Products (GDP).
Maun North MP and Leader of Opposition, Mr Dumelang Saleshando, supported the bill but warned that the country should be cautious as its credit rating had been downgraded, and that affected its creditworthiness.
He said such came at a time when it was approaching its set legal borrowing limits of 40 per cent of GDP, explaining that such could signal tough times.
Through the loan, Mr Saleshando said the country could be setting a debt trap for future generations, thus calling for fiscal discipline from the government and pleading that the money be used for the betterment of the health sector.
Kanye West MP, Mr Victor Phologolo, said the loan should be for shaping the country’s health sector which currently was broken down, by building a resilient health system.
Human capital is the most valuable resource to build the economy of any country, and therefore, a healthy workforce is important to grow the economy, Mr Phologolo said.
Mr Phologolo said it was the responsibility of the government to provide healthcare to its citizens, and that such could be done through borrowing since it was one of the modalities used for funding in the world.
Thamaga-Kumakwane MP, Mr Palelo Motaosane, also supported the bill but said his only worry was bringing it on a certificate of emergency, something that was a trend with the previous administration.
That he said he did not support.
However, his reason for supporting the bill he said was because the budget was passed with a deficit, and so, borrowing was a method used for financing the budget.
He said his constituency’s health facilities improvements were not included in the National Development Plan 12, yet Thamaga Primary Hospital needed attention.
Also, he said the country should learn from previous misfortune and prepare, giving an example with COVID-19 and how it exposed the health sector’s weaknesses.
Preparedness should include issues of staffing, he said.
Mr Motaosane observed that the Ministry of Health had many doctors doing administrative duties, instead of what they were trained for.
That should be revised and doctors be deployed to their professional duties, Mr Motaosane advised.
The legislator cautioned the government against direct appointment, saying it bred corruption. ENDS