16 Feb 2025

Government must establish a special fund to sustain women in the informal sector and other vulnerable members of the society such as people with disabilities.

Commenting on the budget speech on Thursday, Member of Parliament for Mmopane/Metsimotlhabe and also Deputy Speaker, Ms Helen Manyeneng said businesses in the informal sector were dominated by women, who were among the vulnerable groups of the society affected by poverty.

She added that some of the women in the informal sector were single parents and were working tirelessly to provide for their families.

She said it was also important to establish informal sector market where the small businesses would trade and have access to consumers.

Ms Manyeneng said small businesses were not making enough income while it was difficult for someone willing to start a business to take off due to lack of funding.

She, therefore, said establishing a special fund would encourage women and other vulnerable groups to break through and establish small business, with potential to grow and become reputable retailers.

She said the fund would help sustain livelihoods of marginalised groups that included people with disabilities, adding that it was important for government to come up with a policy where certain percentage of employment positions in government were reserved for persons with disabilities and vulnerable members of the society.

Ms Manyeneng said care of caregivers was equally important. She said for people with profound disabilities to get necessary support they needed someone to be close to them 24 hours, therefore caregivers be catered for with necessary support that will sustain their livelihoods.

She added orphans who were part of the marginalised group also be catered for under the anticipated special fund.

She said the move to absorb police special constables to permanent employees of Botswana Police Service, would motivate them work hard and fight the concerning and escalating crime.

On power generation, Ms Manyeneng encouraged the harvesting of sunlight to produce solar energy.

She said the move would not only generate power but also equally create employment opportunities.

She appealed to government to prioritise vocational education. She said government must do more to entice young people develop interest in acquiring vocational education.

She advised government to increase student allowances at vocational institutions and place it at par with that of students at other tertiary institutions.

Ms Manyeneng also said though public servants and state owned enterprises were affected by shortage of office space and renting private facilities, it was unfortunate to observe that a lot of government facilities were now white elephants. She said buildings such as Orapa House were not utilised. ENDS