The Assistant Minister of Trade and Industry, Maxwell Motowane, has called on Batswana and the business community to reduce what he termed ‘excessive dependency’.
Motowane made this statement while contributing to the debate on this year’s financial budget.
He criticized Batswana and several companies for placing reliance on government tenders to run their businesses.
He said that if the prevailing attitude is allowed to continue Botswana’s private sector would collapse.
“Business should not wait for government tenders to their businesses,” he said.
He urged the private sector to come up with ideas and programmes that could reduce depending on government work, adding that curbing a culture of over dependence also required a change of mind set for many Batswana.
Motowane also encouraged Batswana to purchase locally produced goods. He echoed his concerns about the furniture industry, adding that Batswana do not buy locally-made furniture.
He said there was also an urgent need to encourage a culture of entrepreneurship among Batswana as a strategy to attaining economic growth.
He said it was disturbing that in Botswana businesses are created as supplementary income sources and not as genuine ventures that can make a meaningful contribution.
Motowane urged Batswana to take their enterprising seriously, arguing that business’s lack of commitment has led to the collapse of many businesses.
The minister also registered his dissatisfaction about the swelling number of dilapidated government infrastructure, which he said is a result of poor workmanship.
He said that quite often, government is forced to fix these buildings and this, by extension, affects government budget.
Motowane said as a result government often defers money meant for developing rural constituencies to fixing dilapidated infrastructure.
He also suggested for students who vandalize schools to be expelled.
The Lethakeng West MP said that over the past year, the country’s economy has faced many challenges. He credited the ministry of Finance and Development Planning for making Botswana a success story since the country’s independence.
“Our Finance ministry has made Botswana a success story…hence the many developments that we have,”said Motowane.
