Allowances paid under various social welfare programmes, Old Age Pension, Destitute Allowance, Disability Allowance, World War II Veterans Allowances, as well as Ipelegeng have been reviewed upwards.
Minister of Finance, Peggy Serame said on Monday during the Budget Speech presentation that the Old Age Pension will be increased by P100 per month per beneficiary, while other allowances will be increased by P50 per month per beneficiary.
She stated that government prioritises the needs of vulnerable groups, especially in rural communities. She highlighted the results of the 2021 Pilot National Multidimensional Poverty Index that revealed that 20.8 percent of the population is poor. The Index measures poverty across a range of living standards indicators and not income. "The results also reflected that poverty incidence is higher in rural areas," she said, adding that there will be need to continue to devote sizeable resources to social protection to support the most vulnerable.
She announced that various initiatives are also underway to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the social welfare system to make it more sustainable. "The Single Social Registry, which will include beneficiaries of social welfare schemes has been rolled out to all District, and will be operational with effect from April this year," she said, adding that to improve targeting of social welfare benefits on the most needy individuals and households, a harmonised eligibility system will be developed across all social welfare programmes, based on a consistent set of information collected from households.
Leader of Opposition Dithapelo Keorapetse on the other hand is largely unimpressed by the ministers speech. He told The Midweek Sun that the P100 increment to the Old Age Pension is a kick in the teeth as they believe that at minimum there should be an increment of P1500.
Botswana Congress Party leader Dumelang Saleshando’s message to Batswana is that this is the same old BDP which does not care about creating jobs, while confirming that unemployment remains high. “The minister confirmed that unemployment remains high, she does not give any targets of the jobs to be created,” Saleshando said, further adding that there is no mention of how government will alleviate youth unemployment.
Minister of Finance, Peggy Serame said on Monday during the Budget Speech presentation that the Old Age Pension will be increased by P100 per month per beneficiary, while other allowances will be increased by P50 per month per beneficiary.
She stated that government prioritises the needs of vulnerable groups, especially in rural communities. She highlighted the results of the 2021 Pilot National Multidimensional Poverty Index that revealed that 20.8 percent of the population is poor. The Index measures poverty across a range of living standards indicators and not income. "The results also reflected that poverty incidence is higher in rural areas," she said, adding that there will be need to continue to devote sizeable resources to social protection to support the most vulnerable.
She announced that various initiatives are also underway to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the social welfare system to make it more sustainable. "The Single Social Registry, which will include beneficiaries of social welfare schemes has been rolled out to all District, and will be operational with effect from April this year," she said, adding that to improve targeting of social welfare benefits on the most needy individuals and households, a harmonised eligibility system will be developed across all social welfare programmes, based on a consistent set of information collected from households.
Leader of Opposition Dithapelo Keorapetse on the other hand is largely unimpressed by the ministers speech. He told The Midweek Sun that the P100 increment to the Old Age Pension is a kick in the teeth as they believe that at minimum there should be an increment of P1500.
Botswana Congress Party leader Dumelang Saleshando’s message to Batswana is that this is the same old BDP which does not care about creating jobs, while confirming that unemployment remains high. “The minister confirmed that unemployment remains high, she does not give any targets of the jobs to be created,” Saleshando said, further adding that there is no mention of how government will alleviate youth unemployment.
