16 Jul 2026

Government is committed to citizen economic empowerment, inclusive growth and the diversification of the economy by ensuring that government supply tenders empower a broad spectrum of citizens.

This was said by Minister of Environment and Tourism Mr Wynter Mmolotsi, who was responding to a question in Parliament on Wednesday, on behalf of the Minister of Finance.

He said public procurement was a strategic instrument for economic transformation, job creation and the empowerment of Batswana, especially the youth, women and emerging entrepreneurs. 

He said government reserved procurement schemes for citizens or citizen contractors and the schemes applied to works, services, supplies and/or combination thereof. 

Also, he said government mandated a 50 per cent discount for tender document purchases and contractor registration fees for 100 per cent youth owned businesses aimed at enhancing their access to procurement opportunities. 

All these measures, Mr Mmolotsi said were to ensure that public procurement drove citizen economic empowerment, spreads opportunities widely, builds local capacity and protected small medium enterprises from unfair domination by a few entrenched players. 

Mr Mmolotsi said these were designed to advance economic and social objectives while remaining consistent with international obligations and maintaining macro-economic stability. 

He said Section 74 of the Public Procurement Act of 2001 governed the implementation of preferential procurement schemes, which included processes for eligibility certification, reserved schemes, scales of preference, ranking bids, preference for supplies and rules of governing primary contractors and subcontractors. 

The minister said compliance was exercised and PPRA monitored and enforced the Act to ensure compliance, as the Act mandated the Authority to conduct periodic inspections, procurement and contracts audits and performance reviews. 

He also said the Authority had the power to demand information, investigate contraventions, summon witnesses and impose administrative sanctions where violations were noted. 

Furthermore, Mr Mmolotsi said the Economic Diversification Drive (EDD) required all central government ministries, local authorities and parastatals to prioritise locally manufactured goods, services and agricultural produce. 

He said eligible enterprises should register with the Ministry of Trade and Entrepreneurship to obtain the EDD certification, which qualified them for preference to EDD certified local producers. 

The minister said the initiative worked with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act to grow the capacity of local producers and promote new entrants.

Moreover, Mr Mmolotsi said the ministry was committed to protecting the intellectual property rights and safeguarding innovations while ensuring fair competition. 

He was responding to a question from the MP for Kgatleng East, Mr Mabuse Pule who had asked the minister to state how compliance with citizen participation and local content requirements was monitored and enforced and also to state specific initiatives that existed to enable new and emerging supply companies to access government contract. ends