Government’s decision to rationalise some of the State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in a bid to improve efficiency, is in fact doing the opposite.
The current process is clouded by uncertainty and stumbling blocks ahead of the country’s highly contested elections next year.
These uncertainties and delays have caused uneasiness among employees whose parastatals have been earmarked for rationalisation, especially those SOEs that will be closed totally and those that will be merged, Botswana Guardian has been told.
There has been no further update from government on progress relating to the rationalisation progress which involves several parastatals.
At the moment the government agency, Selibe Phikwe Economic Development Unit (SPEDU) which, according to government time frames, should have been moved from Selibe Phikwe mining town to the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC), is still a standalone entity manned by a caretaker Chief Executive Officer.
While government has announced the decision to rationalise some state entities as early as April 2022, on the ground, government has done little in terms of formally consulting employees, repealing existing Acts and drafting new bills that will eventually lead to new parastatals being formed.
“We have not received any communication specially stating that the organisation we work for will be merged with another government organisation. We don’t know how this will affect us at a personal level,” an employee at the Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) said, adding that this is causing a lot of anxiety and affects performance.
The Authority, whose mandate is to promote entrepreneurship and develop the Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) in the country, is a candidate for rationalisation.
It will be merged with the Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) to form a single entity, an animal, the public is yet to know more about.
When government announced the rationalisation of SOEs, it immediately placed a blanket ban on the recruitment of new staff for affected parastatals, pending the completion of the process.
A senior official of one of the parastatals under the Ministry of Trade and Industry has told Botswana Guardian that the recruitment freeze has affected the strategic plans of the parastatals earmarked for rationalisation.
The situation is so dire that Accounting Officers of these parastatals, in this case Chief Executive Officers have been forced to have numerous meetings with the immediate former Permanent Secretary of Trade and Industry, Malebogo Morakaladi, pleading that they be allowed to hire key staff to drive their strategic plans which are key for service delivery.
There are a number of parastatals under Mmusi Kgafela’s ministry of Trade and Industry, who have crafted new strategies (Strategic Plans) which need to be resourced, human capital wise.
The closure and merging of some parastatals is likely to result in job losses. Recently a local newspaper put the number of those expected to lose jobs as high as 800.
In yet another interesting twist to the rationalisation process, government, through Public Enterprises Evaluation and Privatisation Agency (PEEPA), recently floated an advert for those interested in being part of several Boards of SOEs including LEA, Special Economic Zones Authority (SEZA) and BITC, all of which are candidates for rationalisation.
By Wednesday afternoon, it was not clear why government wants to add more Board members into agencies it has earmarked for rationalisation, which will lead to some boards being dissolved.
Botswana Guardian understands that the process, which at most was supposed to be completed next year, as per the government announcement, might after all be implemented post elections, as those in power are afraid of the backlash it might cause, especially the closure of some parastatals.
In fact, a source with understanding of law told Botswana Guardian this week that the process which might delay the rationalisation, will most likely be the legal aspect pertaining to repealing and drafting of new laws establishing new entities and merging others.
For example, LEA is supposed to merge with CEDA to form a new organisation. This basically means that the statutes that established the two separate entities will be repealed, a process which will require parliament’s approval.
In addition, parliament will also be expected to debate a new bill that if passed, will lead to the formation of a new entity that comes from merging CEDA and LEA.
“This will take some time. Right now, there are only two parliament sittings left before general elections. There will certainly be new bills that will be pushed ahead of others,” the source said.
SPEDU, which is operating under a caretaker Chief Executive Officer, Gideon Mmolawa, will also need the approval of parliament for it to be legally closed.
Under the much talked about rationationalisation programme, which was announced by President Mokgweetsi Masisi, government will combine all the investment promotion activities of BITC, the Special Economic Zones Authority and the Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO) into one entity.
This ‘one entity’ will also need a new law, which will first be drafted by the Attorney General Chambers.
By Wednesday afternoon, minister Kgafela’s phone was not getting through. His assistant, Beauty Manake, had promised to call Botswana Guardian for comment. She was however reported to be outside the country on an official assignment.
Previously, Kgafela had stated that a consultant will be engaged to ensure the smooth delivery of the rationalisation process.
He explained that rationalising parastatals and public entities ‘would improve service delivery by creating one-stop service centres where the public could get turnkey services’, adding that this would include cost reduction as a potential secondary benefit.
Rationalisation, he said, would also establish a more integrated and broad-based service delivery system and enable agencies of government to complement one another with the resultant coherence enabling these entities to truly drive government initiatives of restructuring and reforming the economy and promoting greater private sector development.
He added that another key goal of rationalisation was to promote efficient use of economic resources by eliminating duplications.
A Project Board and Working Team was established in July 2022 to ensure achievement of the intended exercise, adding that the Project Board was set up primarily to provide overall oversight of the rationalisation project including reviewing and approval of deliverables, project scope management and timing and also providing strategic leadership.
The project Board comprised the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, who also chaired the Project Board, Permanent Secretary of MET, Deputy Permanent Secretary-Natural Resources from MET, DPS-MTI and the Chief Executive Officer of PEEPA.
Kgafela explained that PEEPA’s main responsibility was to provide support and guidance during the rationalisation process, adding that PEEPA had been supporting the two ministries from the beginning of the consultations with the CEOs of the affected parastatals - BITC, SEZA, SPEDU and BTO.
The current process is clouded by uncertainty and stumbling blocks ahead of the country’s highly contested elections next year.
These uncertainties and delays have caused uneasiness among employees whose parastatals have been earmarked for rationalisation, especially those SOEs that will be closed totally and those that will be merged, Botswana Guardian has been told.
There has been no further update from government on progress relating to the rationalisation progress which involves several parastatals.
At the moment the government agency, Selibe Phikwe Economic Development Unit (SPEDU) which, according to government time frames, should have been moved from Selibe Phikwe mining town to the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC), is still a standalone entity manned by a caretaker Chief Executive Officer.
While government has announced the decision to rationalise some state entities as early as April 2022, on the ground, government has done little in terms of formally consulting employees, repealing existing Acts and drafting new bills that will eventually lead to new parastatals being formed.
“We have not received any communication specially stating that the organisation we work for will be merged with another government organisation. We don’t know how this will affect us at a personal level,” an employee at the Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) said, adding that this is causing a lot of anxiety and affects performance.
The Authority, whose mandate is to promote entrepreneurship and develop the Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) in the country, is a candidate for rationalisation.
It will be merged with the Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) to form a single entity, an animal, the public is yet to know more about.
When government announced the rationalisation of SOEs, it immediately placed a blanket ban on the recruitment of new staff for affected parastatals, pending the completion of the process.
A senior official of one of the parastatals under the Ministry of Trade and Industry has told Botswana Guardian that the recruitment freeze has affected the strategic plans of the parastatals earmarked for rationalisation.
The situation is so dire that Accounting Officers of these parastatals, in this case Chief Executive Officers have been forced to have numerous meetings with the immediate former Permanent Secretary of Trade and Industry, Malebogo Morakaladi, pleading that they be allowed to hire key staff to drive their strategic plans which are key for service delivery.
There are a number of parastatals under Mmusi Kgafela’s ministry of Trade and Industry, who have crafted new strategies (Strategic Plans) which need to be resourced, human capital wise.
The closure and merging of some parastatals is likely to result in job losses. Recently a local newspaper put the number of those expected to lose jobs as high as 800.
In yet another interesting twist to the rationalisation process, government, through Public Enterprises Evaluation and Privatisation Agency (PEEPA), recently floated an advert for those interested in being part of several Boards of SOEs including LEA, Special Economic Zones Authority (SEZA) and BITC, all of which are candidates for rationalisation.
By Wednesday afternoon, it was not clear why government wants to add more Board members into agencies it has earmarked for rationalisation, which will lead to some boards being dissolved.
Botswana Guardian understands that the process, which at most was supposed to be completed next year, as per the government announcement, might after all be implemented post elections, as those in power are afraid of the backlash it might cause, especially the closure of some parastatals.
In fact, a source with understanding of law told Botswana Guardian this week that the process which might delay the rationalisation, will most likely be the legal aspect pertaining to repealing and drafting of new laws establishing new entities and merging others.
For example, LEA is supposed to merge with CEDA to form a new organisation. This basically means that the statutes that established the two separate entities will be repealed, a process which will require parliament’s approval.
In addition, parliament will also be expected to debate a new bill that if passed, will lead to the formation of a new entity that comes from merging CEDA and LEA.
“This will take some time. Right now, there are only two parliament sittings left before general elections. There will certainly be new bills that will be pushed ahead of others,” the source said.
SPEDU, which is operating under a caretaker Chief Executive Officer, Gideon Mmolawa, will also need the approval of parliament for it to be legally closed.
Under the much talked about rationationalisation programme, which was announced by President Mokgweetsi Masisi, government will combine all the investment promotion activities of BITC, the Special Economic Zones Authority and the Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO) into one entity.
This ‘one entity’ will also need a new law, which will first be drafted by the Attorney General Chambers.
By Wednesday afternoon, minister Kgafela’s phone was not getting through. His assistant, Beauty Manake, had promised to call Botswana Guardian for comment. She was however reported to be outside the country on an official assignment.
Previously, Kgafela had stated that a consultant will be engaged to ensure the smooth delivery of the rationalisation process.
He explained that rationalising parastatals and public entities ‘would improve service delivery by creating one-stop service centres where the public could get turnkey services’, adding that this would include cost reduction as a potential secondary benefit.
Rationalisation, he said, would also establish a more integrated and broad-based service delivery system and enable agencies of government to complement one another with the resultant coherence enabling these entities to truly drive government initiatives of restructuring and reforming the economy and promoting greater private sector development.
He added that another key goal of rationalisation was to promote efficient use of economic resources by eliminating duplications.
A Project Board and Working Team was established in July 2022 to ensure achievement of the intended exercise, adding that the Project Board was set up primarily to provide overall oversight of the rationalisation project including reviewing and approval of deliverables, project scope management and timing and also providing strategic leadership.
The project Board comprised the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, who also chaired the Project Board, Permanent Secretary of MET, Deputy Permanent Secretary-Natural Resources from MET, DPS-MTI and the Chief Executive Officer of PEEPA.
Kgafela explained that PEEPA’s main responsibility was to provide support and guidance during the rationalisation process, adding that PEEPA had been supporting the two ministries from the beginning of the consultations with the CEOs of the affected parastatals - BITC, SEZA, SPEDU and BTO.
