25 Aug 2026

Companies that retrench are obliged to state the reasons, which are further assessed by the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs. The Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Major General Pius Mokgware told Parliament that government had always been assessing the cause of job losses due to retrenchment. He admitted that job losses naturally affected the economy in many ways, citing that currently there was nothing to suggest that the job losses were attributable to the anticipated compliance to the new Act, as it has not yet commenced. To mitigate further job losses and unemployment rate, he reiterated that strategies and initiatives were in place to explore employment opportunities both locally and internationally. He also noted that the Employment and Labour Relations Act would impact businesses positively irrespective of the type of business because the new law, which was a product of a tripartite of the business representatives (Business Botswana), the Trade Unions Federations and government has considered fair labour practices, productivity and an enabling environment for trade, investment and job creation. Maj. Gen. Mokgware also stated that government had data on job losses for both private and public sector and such data was available upon request. MP for Chobe, Mr Simasiku Mapulanga, had wanted the minister to state whether government had assessed the principal causes of the reported increase in retrenchments, including the extent to which they were attributable to the economic downturn or to anticipate compliance with the new Act.ENDS