Government is currently consulting on the minimum compulsory retirement age of 45 for Botswana Defence Force (BDF) members, a policy the Minister for State President, Defence and Security has admitted is a growing concern for the administration. 

In response to a parliamentary question on Tuesday, Minister Moeti Mohwasa, told Parliament that the review was part of a broader effort to ensure that early retirement did not leave BDF members, particularly Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs), at a financial disadvantage compared to other public servants. 

Mr Mohwasa said the ministry, in collaboration with the Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF), had launched a series of interventions to fix anomalies in how military pensions were calculated. 

These included evaluating the long-term value of current payouts, cleaning up records to ensure accuracy as well as injecting funds to correct historical calculation differences. 

Minister Mohwasa further emphasised that the goal was to ensure BDF pension outcomes were broadly comparable in value and security to those of civilian public officers with similar lengths of service. 

Maun West MP, Mr Caterpillar Hikuama had challenged the relevance of NCOs retiring at 45 while their counterparts in the Commissioned officers category could serve until 60.  

The MP further questioned whether the current alignment between the BDF Pension Scheme and the BPOPF truly provided equitable long-term security for those who served in the lower ranks. BOPA