Botswana’s government has approved a dramatic pay increase for participants in its main drought-relief program, a decision that underscores the tension between rising social demands and mounting warnings from international lenders about the country’s swelling wage bill.
The long-running Ipelegeng program, which has for years provided short-term work to some of Botswana’s poorest households, will be rebranded as the Ikageng Public Works Programme (IPWP). Officials say the redesign will shift the scheme from a basic relief model to one focused on performance, skills development and community-driven projects. Yet it is the scale of the pay increase that has drawn the most attention with monthly wages jumping from P617 to P2,500.
There's more to this story
But to keep reading, we need you to subscribe.
Investigative journalism is an indispensable part of a healthy society, but it's also expensive to produce. We are reliant on subscriptions to fund our work, and while you can enjoy most of our stories for free, a small number of premium features are reserved for subscribers.
You can subscribe for one week, a month or a full year - the choice is yours.
Save 77% on an annual subscription. Click here to find out how.
Existing subscribers can log in to keep reading here.
