30 Aug 2024

Government is committed to increasing participation of native African black Batswana in all sectors of the economy, Assistant Minister of Trade and Industry, Honourable Beauty Manake has said.

Honourable Manake said this when responding to a parliamentary question on Tuesday.

She said as such, government had implemented policies to promote greater participation of Batswana, among them the Citizen Economic Empowerment Policy, which aimed to create opportunities for native Batswana through capacity building, access to finance, and preferential treatment in government procurement processes.

She added that Parliament approved the Economic Inclusion Act in 2021 which aimed to operationalise the CCE policy. She said development finance institutions such as the Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) provided financial support to native Batswana to start and expand businesses in high-potential sectors.

Again, she said government also had initiatives for specific sectors of citizens such as youth and women to try and increase their participation in the economy.

She further said government had a cocktail of initiatives aimed at increasing participation of citizens in the economy.

“Among these are the reserved activities for citizens, some of which are achieved from issuance of Trading Licences and the Business Registration Certificate as per the Trade Act, 2019 and Trade Regulations, 2020,” she said.

She added that government continued to make reservation policies encouraging Batswana to participate in the economy.

“In addition, government has initiatives geared towards encouraging natural citizens to access funding although most of them do not distinguish between natural and naturalised citizens,” she said.

On one hand, she said according to Statistics Botswana data from 2014-2023 showed that the mining sector had been the largest contributor to Botswana GDP, followed by the public administration and defence sectors while retail and wholesale was the largest contributor within the private sector.

“Our data currently does not disaggregate between citizens by birth and naturalised. However, indications are that the retail sector is dominated by native African black Batswana citizens as most of these business activities are reserved for Batswana,” she said.

In terms of the general economy, she said natural Batswana were predominantly in the smaller, micro and medium sector space, including the informal sector while the medium and large scales were predominantly owned by naturalised Batswana and foreigners.

“However, the combined wholesale and retail sector is dominated by foreigners and naturalised citizens. Botswana’s economic landscape is diverse, with various sectors contributing to the nation’s growth and development,” she added.

Furthermore, she said while government had implemented policies to encourage the participation of native African black Batswana citizens across all sectors, there were particular areas where their presence was notably strong, particularly the agricultural sector in livestock farming and crop production.

“Many native Batswana have traditionally been involved in cattle ranching, which holds cultural and economic significance. It is important to note that government continues to support initiatives aimed at further empowering native Batswana across all sectors of the economy, fostering inclusive growth and equitable opportunities for all citizens,” she said.

She indicated that foreigners and naturalised citizens dominated major sectors of the economy due to their heavy financial muscle and their business acumen, sometimes honed across generations of exposure and experience. Selebi Phikwe West MP, Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse had asked the minister to state and explain which sectors of the economy were major and their contributions to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Mr Keorapetse also wanted to know which sector and sub-sector of the economy was dominated by native African black Batswana citizens as well as by foreigners and naturalized citizens. He also wanted to know why foreigners and naturalised citizens dominated major sectors of the economy and plans in place to improve the situation and the codified plans to improve the situation, including targets and timelines.