The mushrooming of shopping malls and the level of conspicuous consumption among Batswana mask a grave reality that, not too long ago was bemoaned by a man whom an opposition leader had described as the “best finance minister” Botswana ever had.
In lamenting a “cost-of-living crisis”, Lobatse MP, Dr. Thapelo Matsheka, said that some companies had relocated to South Africa and others are planning to retrench staff. He was contributing to a debate on a bill to borrow money from the African Development Bank that his successor at the Ministry of Finance, Peggy Serame, had tabled before parliament. Matsheka cautioned that unless Serame ensured that money that was being borrowed from AfDB “trickles down quickly” to the private sector, then her ministry will have a budget that supports the government as one of the direct beneficiaries.
Matsheka had a short, ill-fated stint as finance minister and moaning this redeployment, Maun West, who at the time was the Leader of the Opposition, said that Matsheka was the best finance minister Botswana ever had.
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