Ministry, CITF sign shareholder oversight pact

Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs has signed a shareholder compact agreement with Construction Industry Trust Fund (CITF). Minister Edwin Batshu said at the signing ceremony that the shareholder compact will create a culture of responsibility, transparency and responsiveness.

The shareholder compact is not meant to micromanage the institutions or to stifle them but to maximise core principles of accountability and transparency. Batshu said that improved contribution of CITF in skills development to the construction sector depends on effective and efficient implementation of the shareholder compact.

“I must emphasise that the oversight role extends beyond the usual performance monitoring, it also ensures that the strategic intent of the ministry and its parastatals are aligned, this  shareholder compact will be reviewed from time to time” said Batshu Board chairperson of CITF Philemon Ramatsu concurred with the minister that the shareholder compact will be a sound framework to evaluate the CITF.

Ramatsu said the compact will help in actively achieving CITF’s vision of being the best in the provision of service excellence. He said that as CITF they pride themselves in having trainees who are readily absorbed into the market and some self- employed.

“As CITF we are mandated to accountability and good governance so that we achieve our mission and vision to improve the quality of and productivity of artisans in the building and construction sector” said RamatsuCITF is a parastatal of Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs. It was established as a centre for crash skills training to facilitate training of Batswana as artisans or craftsmen and aim to meet the needs of the building and construction industry without having to rely on imported skills. 

CITF currently provides skills training through the Gaborone Centre and the Kazungula Mobile Training Unit, which was established to provide semi-skilled and skilled artisans for the Kazungula Bridge Project.