‘Botswana economy is not well structured’ -Motshegwa

NANCY RAMOKHUA

editors@thepatriot.co.bw

Botswana Landboard, Local Authorities and Health Workers Union (BLLAWHU), Secretary General Ketlhalefile Motshegwa has called for rapid industrialization to address escalating unemployment and rising poverty in Botswana.

Addressing emerging socio-economic issues in a conversation with the media on Wednesday and commenting on the two-year Transition National Development Plan (TNDP), Motshegwa said a lot must be done to create a well-structured economy, dismissing Botswana’s economy as cockeyed. “Our economy is not well structured. It is high time as a country we engage in rapid industrialization to draft an economy that will bring a form of citizen economic empowerment,” said Motshegwa.  

He said like in many other countries, industrialization will help bridge the gap between a rich country with poor people, where there is a mismatch between the economy’s status and the lives of people. In addition, he highlighted that Botswana has for a long time been very much reliant on handing over its raw materials to other countries for processing, directly sending jobs to other countries yet Botswana is lagging on creation of jobs. “In terms of the economy’s architecture, there must be advocacy for rapid industrialization and an export led economy. This is to avoid reliance on importation, which impedes on the developmental agenda of the country,” he added.

 The Minister of Finance Peggy Serame stated during the 2023/2024 budget presentation that unemployment in Botswana has declined in the fourth quarter of 2022 from 26% to 25.4%, a slight improvement as indicated by the Minister. However, in response to this Motshegwa said statistics will certainly not offer the unemployed masses jobs. “Batswana are not interested in the percentage reduction of unemployment. They are rather looking for jobs and not mathematical figures,” he retorted.