03 Aug 2026

Government projects are increasingly sidelining local workers and contractors through work permit abuse and legal loopholes. 

It is on such backdrop that Nkange MP Motlhaleemang Moalosi tabled a motion calling for a national audit task force to investigate non-compliance with citizen sub-contracting mandates across active public projects.

Tabling the motion recently, Mr Moalosi argued for the immediate establishment of a high-level investigative body.  He said the proposed panel would audit physical development sites and compare actual workforce rosters against approved work permit quotas to verify whether sub-contracting allocations were genuinely awarded to verified citizen-owned enterprises.

He urged that the task force be mandated to deliver a comprehensive report, complete with actionable, prosecutorial and legislative recommendations to expose fronting arrangements and systemic loopholes, within six months of its formation.

Underscoring the urgency of the intervention, Mr Moalosi said there persistent was systemic leak in the national economy driven by the unauthorised displacement of local labour and the systematic sidelining of domestic firms.

“I am tabling a motion that strikes at the very heart of economic justice, national sovereignty and the rule of law in Botswana. This motion is not born out of reactionary rhetoric, but it is an urgent institutional intervention demanded by our statutory obligations and the economic survival of our citizens,” he said.He noted that while Parliament had consistently enacted progressive and world-class legislation to protect domestic enterprises, a glaring chasm remained between statutory laws and the harsh reality on ground level across national infrastructure projects and civil works sites. Pointing to existing legal frameworks, the Nkange lawmaker highlighted Section 4 of the Public Procurement Act (Act No. 24 of 2021), which mandated empowerment of citizen contractors. 

He argued that public funds allocated for mega-projects should serve as national industrial policy instruments rather than creating enclave economies for foreign contractors. He further noted that while the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) had the mandate under Section 8 to conduct contract audits, prime contractors routinely committed to local sub-contracting percentages on paper, only to bypass local firms once contracts were signed.

Mr Moalosi also cited the Economic Inclusion Act (Act No. 26 of 2021), designed to enforce skills transfer, supplier development and local equity. He emphasised that when non-targeted entities failed to sub-contract to citizen-owned enterprises, they violated the statutory rights of Batswana.

“Let us address the twin engine of this exploitation, the widespread abuse of our immigration and work permit regimes,” Mr Moalosi said.

He contended that work permits were designed exclusively to fill genuine and highly specialised skill gaps, not to serve as wholesale import licenses for general labourers, administrative clerks, low-level supervisors and technicians, roles that thousands of local tertiary and vocational graduates were qualified to fill.

By importing low- and mid-tier workforces under the guise of specialized expertise, foreign contractors commit a dual injury: robbing qualified youth of employment opportunities while intentionally evading mandatory local sub-contracting thresholds. ENDS