hansard · hansard no 182 5 t 15 th 2016 answer tuesday 15th march, 2016 the assembly met at 2:00...

HANSARDYOUR VOICE IN PARLIAMENT

THE FIRST MEETING OF THE SECOND SESSION OF

THE ELEVENTH PARLIAMENT

HANSARD NO. 181

DISCLAIMERUnofficial HansardThis transcript of Parliamentary proceedings is an unofficial version of the Hansard and may contain inaccuracies. It is hereby published for general purposes only. The final edited version of the Hansard will be published when available and can be obtained from the Assistant Clerk (Editorial).

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

DAILY HANSARD(PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES)

ENGLIS

H VER

SION

TUESDAY 15 MARCH 2016182

THE SECOND MEETING OF THE SECOND SESSION OF

Hansard No 182 2

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SPEAKERThe Hon. Gladys K. T. Kokorwe MP.

DEPUTY SPEAKERThe Hon. Kagiso P. Molatlhegi, MP Gaborone South

Clerk of the National AssemblyDeputy Clerk of the National AssemblyAg. Learned Parliamentary CounselAssistant Clerk (E)

- Ms B. N. Dithapo - Dr R.D. Dingalo - Mr S. Chikanda - Mr R. Josiah

CABINET

His Excellency Lt. Gen. Dr. S. K. I. Khama PH, FOM,

DCO, DSM, MP. - President

His Honour M. E. K. Masisi, MP. (Moshupa-Manyana) - Vice President

Hon. Dr. P. Venson-Moitoi, MP. (Serowe South) - Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation

Hon. S. Tsogwane, MP. (Boteti North) - Minister of Local Government and Rural Development

Hon. N. E. Molefhi, MP. (Selebi Phikwe East) - Minister of Infrastructure, Science and Technology

Hon. S. Kgathi, MP. (Bobirwa) - Minister of Defence, Justice and Security

Hon. O. K. Mokaila, MP. (Specially Elected) - Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources

Hon. P. M. Maele, MP. (Lerala - Maunatlala) - Minister of Lands and Housing

Hon. E. J. Batshu, MP. (Nkange) - Minister of Labour and Home Affairs

Hon. D. K. Makgato, MP. (Sefhare - Ramokgonami) - Minister of Health

Hon. T. S. Khama, MP. (Serowe West) - Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism

Hon. V. T. Seretse, MP. (Mmopane - Lentsweletau) - Minister of Trade and Industry

Hon. O. K. Matambo, MP. (Specially Elected) - Minister of Finance and Development Planning

Hon. T. Mabeo, MP. (Thamaga - Kumakwane) - Minister of Transport and Communications

Hon. T. Olopeng, MP. (Tonota) - Minister of Youth, Sport and Culture

Hon. E. M. Molale (Specially Elected) - Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration

Hon. Dr. U. Dow, MP. (Specially Elected) - Minister of Education and Skills Development

Hon. P. P. Ralotsia, MP. (Kanye North) - Minister of Agriculture

Hon. D. P. Makgalemele, MP (Shoshong) - Assistant Minister, Presidential Affairs and Public Administration

Hon. K. K. Autlwetse, MP (Serowe North) - Assistant Minister, Agriculture

Hon. B. M. Tshireletso, MP. (Mahalapye East) - Assistant Minister, Local Government and Rural Development

Hon. F. S. Van Der Westerhuizen, MP. (Kgalagadi South) - Assistant Minister, Local Government and Rural Development

Hon. M. M. Goya, MP. (Palapye) - Assistant Minister, Education and Skills Development

Hon. F. M. M. Molao, MP (Shashe West) - Assistant Minister, Education and Skills Development

Hon. Dr. A. Madigele, MP. (Mmathethe - Molapowabojang) - Assistant Minister, Health

Hon. Sadique Kebonang, MP. (Lobatse) - Assistant Minister of Trade and Industry

Hansard No 182 3

MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT AND THEIR CONSTITUENCIES

Names Constituency

RULING PARTY (Botswana Democratic Party)

Hon. S. M. Guma, MP Tati EastHon. C. De Graaff, MP Ghanzi SouthHon. L. Kablay, MP Letlhakeng - LephepheHon. M. N. Ngaka, MP TakatokwaneHon. T. Kwerepe, MP NgamiHon. S. Lelatisitswe, MP Boteti EastHon. J. Molefe, MP Mahalapye WestHon. K. Markus, MP Maun EastHon. K. Mzwinila, MP MmadinareHon. P. Majaga, MP Nata-GwetaHon. M. I. Moswaane, MP Francistown WestHon. B. H. Billy, MP Francistown EastHon. M. R. Shamukuni, MP ChobeHon. B. G.Butale, MP Tati WestHon. I. E. Moipisi, MP Kgalagadi North

OPPOSITION

(Umbrella for Democratic Change)Hon. D. G. Boko, MP (Leader of Opposition) Gaborone Bonnington NorthHon. G. S. M. Mangole, MP Mochudi WestHon. W. B. Mmolotsi, MP Francistown SouthHon. T. Moremi, MP Maun WestHon. A. S. Kesupile, MP Kanye SouthHon. N. Salakae, MP Ghanzi NorthHon. Maj. Gen. P. Mokgware, MP Gabane-MmankgodiHon. Dr. T. O. M. Mmatli, MP Molepolole SouthHon. S. Ntlhaile, MP Jwaneng -MabutsaneHon. M. I. Khan, MP Molepolole NorthHon. H. G. Nkaigwa, MP Gaborone NorthHon. I. J. Davids, MP Mochudi EastHon. S. M. Bathobakae, MP TlokwengHon. N. N. Gaolathe, MP Gaborone Bonnington SouthHon. S. Kgoroba, MP MogoditshaneHon. Dr P. Butale, MP Gaborone Central Hon Kgosi Lotlamoreng II Goodhope - Mabule

(Botswana Congress Party)

Hon. B. Arone, MP OkavangoHon. D. L. Keorapetse, MP Selebi Phikwe WestHon. S. O. Rantuana, MP Ramotswa

Hansard No 182 4

TABLE OF CONTENTSTHE SECOND MEETING OF THE SECOND

SESSION OF ELEVENTH PARLIAMENT 15 MARCH 2016

CONTENTS PAGE (S)

Organisation 2000 – Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and TourismCommittee of Supply.....................................................................................................................................10 - 34

Organisation 2400 – Ministry of Transport and CommunicationsCommittee of Supply.....................................................................................................................................35 - 39

QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER .....................................................................................................5 - 9

Annex A2015/16 Recurrent Budget Expenditure Analysis..............................................................................................47 - 49

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QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWERTuesday 15thMarch, 2016

Tuesday 15th March, 2016

THE ASSEMBLY met at 2:00 p.m.

(THE SPEAKER in the Chair)

P R A Y E R S

* * * *

QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER

STATUS OF KHWEE VILLAGE RURAL AREA DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME STUDENT

HOSTEL

MR S. LELATISITSWE (BOTETI EAST): asked the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development to apprise this Honourable House on the status of Khwee Village Rural Area Development Programme student hostels particularly the following:-

(i) staffing;

(ii) ablution and toilets;

(iii) general hostel maintenance;

(iv) kitchen;

(v) what time the kitchen attendants report for duty in the morning;

(vi) whether they are provided with electricity to prepare breakfast for kids;

(vii) when this situation will be addressed; and

(viii) if he will consider including this in the Economic Stimulus Programme.

ASSISTANT MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (MR VAN DER WESTHUIZEN): The Khwee Village Remote Area Development Programme (RADP) students’ hostels manpower establishment is as follows:

There are 8 posts for hostel cooks and 7 are filled, leaving 1 vacancy. The other posts for 9 care takers, 1 matron, 1 relief hostel worker and 1 driver are all filled.

Interviews for the vacant post of hostel cook were held on the 19th February, 2016 and the prospective candidate has been identified and the offer letter was written on the 29th February 2016. The Central District Council is still awaiting response from the candidate.

(i) Currently, the Council is experiencing some challenges with the entire hostel sewerage drainage system connecting the ablution facilities. The situation will be addressed during the 2016/17 financial year.

(ii) The cyclic hostel maintenance was done during the financial year 2011/12. However, routine and minor maintenance of the hostel is done using the Council crew and handymen system, as and when the need arises.

(iii) Currently, the kitchen and its equipment are in good condition except for the wall tiles which need attention and these will be attended to by the Council maintenance crew during the 2016/17 fiscal year.

The hostel attendants report for duty at 4.30 in the morning.

(iv) The hostel and other council facilities are provided with electricity powered by a generator, which is set to operate from 5.00 in the morning.

(v) It has come to my attention that the attendants’ reporting time for work does not correspond with the set time of switching power on. The anomaly has since been corrected by setting the generator time from 0430 hours with effect from Friday 11th March 2016, to correspond with the reporting time of the attendants.

(vi) The general maintenance of the hostel will be considered, along with other local authorities maintenance needs, during the 2016/17 financial year as there is no budgetary provision under the Economic Stimulus programme. Thank you.

SHORTAGE OF STAFF HOUSES FOR TEACHERS AND SUPPORT STAFF IN SELEBI PHIKWE WEST CONSTITUENCY PRIMARY

SCHOOLS

MR D. L. KEORAPETSE (SELEBI PHIKWE WEST): asked the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development:-

(i) if he is aware of the shortage of staff houses for teachers and support staff in Selebi Phikwe West Constituency primary schools and the extent of dilapidation of the available and occupied houses;

(ii) to explain and give details of this dilapidation; and

(iii) what is being done currently to make these houses habitable.

ASSISTANT MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (MR VAN DER WESTHUIZEN): Madam Speaker, I am aware that there is a backlog of forty teachers’ houses at Lapologang, Tebogo, Selebi Phikwe, Reuben Mpabanga, Joseph Anderson and Boswelakgomo Primary Schools in Selebi Phikwe West Constituency.

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I am also aware of the state of disrepair of teachers’ houses of 3 blocks of flats at Leseding, 3 blocks of flats at Kopano, 1 block at Boswelakgomo and Lapologang respectively.

The facilities backlog will be addressed through Economic Stimulus Programme, and during 2016/17 financial year twenty (20) teachers’ houses will be built for Lapologang and Boswelakgomo Primary Schools with ten (10) houses each.

The dilapidated houses are mainly affected by roof leakages caused by worn out roof structure, which results in stained ceilings in some houses and underground pipe leakages caused by corrosion of galvanised steel pipes. There is notable worn out kitchen units and peeling off tiles in some houses.

Due to budget constraints, these could not be maintained during the current financial year (2015/16) and next financial year (2016/17), the Council maintenance Recurrent Budget is P2 million which is very low compared to number of facilities which the Council owns. Most of these facilities are overdue for cyclic maintenance and priority is given to those that are severely affected compared to others. However, the flats at Kopano and Leseding have been included in the maintenance plan for re-roofing and general maintenance in the financial year 2016/17. Thank you.

MR KEORAPETSE: Supplementary. Thank you very much Honourable Minister. My quick question is on whether you will consider, especially the maintenance, to do it in such that it is a capital project and not under the recurrent budget because that has been the problem. The recurrent budget for the Council is low and I think the proper maintenance can be done if this is a capital project.

MR VAN DER WESTHUIZEN: Madam Speaker, it is just for me to take note of but as I have already said the recurrent budget is only P2 million to try to attend to some of the more serious maintenance cycle for some of the facilities. We are trying our level best to maintain our facilities but we have budgetary constraints.

STATUS OF THE INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY SERVICES TRIBUNAL AND

THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE SINCE THE ACT WAS

ENACTED

MR S. LELATISITSWE (BOTETI EAST): asked the Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration:-

(i) to apprise this Honourable House on the status of the Intelligence and Security Services Tribunal

and the Parliamentary Committee on Intelligence since the Act was enacted;

(ii) who are members of these committees and when were they elected;

(iii) how many reports have been tabled before Parliament annually as required by the Act;

(iv) if copies of such reports can be availed including the dates they were tabled;

(v) how many people or companies brought their grievances against the security agents before the Tribunal annually since the Act was enacted; and

(vi) whether there is any effect on the National Security if these two Committees are not active.

Later date

SHORTAGES OF FURNITURE IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN SELEBI PHIKWE WEST

CONSTITUENCY

MR D. L. KEORAPETSE (SELEBI PHIKWE WEST): asked the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development to state:-

(i) the number of primary schools in Selebi Phikwe West Constituency which have shortages of furniture for both pupils and teachers;

(ii) the type of furniture that is in short supply and how this has affected or is affecting teaching and learning; and

(iii) how he is addressing the situation.

ASSISTANT MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (MR VAN DER WESTHUIZEN): Madam Speaker, all six primary schools in Selebi Phikwe West Constituency have shortages of furniture for both pupils and teachers.

(i) The type of furniture that is in short supply is for infant, middle and upper classes, and there is therefore, shortage of small, medium and large tables. As for chairs, all schools have enough chairs except for reception classes. The inadequate furniture in schools affects the learning and teaching as pupils share tables and this affects their writing and their learning.

(ii) The furniture that is in short supply is currently being procured by Selebi Phikwe Town Council for all classes including tables and chairs for reception classes and it is expected that they will start being delivered on 21st March 2016. Thank you.

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MR KEORAPETSE: Supplementary. Honourable Minister, I just wanted to appreciate if the current procurement will address the shortage or will address it partly. I just want to understand whether this will be a thing of the past after the envisaged procurement.

MR VAN DER WESTHUIZEN: I do not have the answer to that question now Madam Speaker whether we will be able to supply all the shortage or only partly.

ADVERTISEMENT OF A BRIDGING COURSE

MR H. G. NKAIGWA (GABORONE NORTH): asked the Minister of Education and Skills Development:-

(i) why Government through Private Tertiary Institutions recently advertised for students to apply for bridging courses;

(ii) what happened to such bridging courses;

(iii) if she is aware that despite students receiving admission letters from such institutions they are not yet enrolled;

(iv) when they should expect Government sponsorship for them to enrol as promised;

(v) if the delay to sponsor these students does not constitute a breach of promise; and

(vi) if she is aware that students have suffered both emotionally and financially due to this exercise as some of them left their jobs on receipt of admission letters.

ASSISTANT MINISTER OF EDUCATION AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT (MR MOLAO): Madam Speaker, TVET is an entry point for the youth to participate in diversifying the economy either as employed or self-employed citizens.

The Ministry of Education and Skills Development therefore advertised bridging courses through both Private and Public Tertiary Institutions in November 2015.

The objective of the project is to prepare the unemployed youth for industry participation through skills development. The programmes are tailor-made to address their skills gaps and consequently enhance their employability.

Madam Speaker, a total of 14 869 applications were received by the Target 20 000 Project Office for the different bridging programmes. To date 10 522 applications have been processed and sponsorship letters produced. These students are enrolled under different training providers, and training has commenced.

Madam Speaker, all the applications which were submitted to the Project office for assessment have been finalized, and sponsorship letters produced and handed over to the respective training providers for commencement of programmes. Indeed training is on-going in the institutions, and as such, there is no breach of any promise on the side of the Ministry.

Finally Madam Speaker, I am aware that some students and not all might have suffered emotional and/or financial inconvenience due to the fact that some training institutions went beyond their given quotas and created unnecessary confusion.

The Honourable Member might want to know that training institutions were given quotas in advance at a duly convened consultative meeting on the 2nd November 2015 before the commencement of the Project and they were expected to stick to their given quotas.

However, the Ministry has written letters to the concerned institutions emphasizing on the need to comply to set processes and procedures. I thank you, Madam Speaker.

MR NKAIGWA: Supplementary. Thank you Madam Speaker and Honourable Minister for the comprehensive answer. How did these institutions end up enrolling more than what they can accommodate? What are doing to assist students who have received admission letters and yet you cannot sponsor them?

MR MOLAO: I have explained that we have formally written letters to the concerned schools to warn them never to repeat the same issue. As for those students who have admission letters but fall under the excess number of students, unfortunately we will not be able to assist them because our budget does not allow us to. It is a pity that they have those admission letters with them which they were not supposed to be given. However, sponsorships are offered annually, they can try their luck next time, maybe they will be sponsored. I thank you.

MR LELATISITSWE: Supplementary. I have noted that, however, my question is your target for this upskilling courses, have you reached your target? And when are you going to make a public pronouncement on the effect that maybe you have reached your target because a lot of applicants keep going to the Ministry. Furthermore, is it a problem of budgetary constraints that hinders you from reaching your target or indeed you have reached it? MR MOLAO: We have reached our target but we have stated that we shall keep on reaching the same target annually. As for now, we have reached the target for this year, the next batch will be next year. This is a program that will run for three consecutive years. So, those who

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have not been sponsored this year will be next year.

MR MOSWAANE: Supplementary. Do you have the excess numbers that were there in the concerned schools? I have once asked a question here about the students who failed from 2010 to 2015 and their number was around P160 000. Now with the current vision 2016, do you think we will be able to achieve our vision in connection to that looking at the fact that you are only taking 20 000?

MR MOLAO: I do not have the statistics readily available with me here but I can avail them to you later. However we need to be cognisant of the fact that target 20 000 caters for students across board, some are sponsored by DTEF, those who have more than 36 points. Their application forms are ready because they are soon to apply. It is indeed true that on annual basis, there are those that we cannot sponsor on their retakes and as a result discontinue with their studies, however every year we take a certain number of them and readmit them at school. That is not enough though but I believe we shall be able to achieve our goals one day. If funds do not permit, we can only do what we can afford for now.

MR MOSWAANE: Further supplementary. It looks like we have more challenges than what we think because when I look at the numbers that you have provided for young people who are not schooling and compare it to capacity of an institution like Francistown College of Education which can accommodate only 600 students but closed at the moment, it becomes a bit worrisome. On the other hand, we have another institution like Francistown College of Vocational Training which is underutilised, what could be wrong Honourable Minister? It seems like we fail to prioritise when it comes to our expenditure. I thank you.

MR MOLAO: Francistown Teacher Training is no longer absorbing any more students and we have turned it into a facility called in-service training for teachers who are already employed. The other part of it is used by College of Distance Learning BOCODOL in Francistown. We have departments like HRDC, who assess the job market and it has been evident enough that with teaching, the market is saturated. Therefore there will be no need for us to keep training teachers when there is nowhere they will be absorbed. In future, we are going to decrease the number of the trainees to counter the situation of training people who cannot find a job in our market.

As for Francistown College of Technical and Vocational Education (FCTVE), it is true, our technical colleges and brigades are not utilised up to the optimal. That is

why we have started the rationalisation plan of brigades and our technical colleges. It is about to be finalised. I believe that upon its completion we are going to use our brigades and technical colleges up to the optimal. The numbers will increase, the standard or quality of the courses offered there will be upgraded. Those objectives are already underway. I believe that by this month end, the rationalisation plan will be complete and then we will take it from there.

MAG. GEN. MOKGWARE: Supplementary. Thank you Honourable Minister. I heard you saying we closed that college of education because we now have enough teachers. However, we still experience shortage of teachers in schools.

MADAM SPEAKER: Supplementary.

MAG. GEN. MOKGWARE: Just recently, you said that we are going to continue having temporary teachers. Can you please be straightforward in what you are saying; are you saying we have enough teachers?

MR MOLAO: You heard me but I do not believe you understood Honourable Member. What we are saying is that, we have closed the college because the courses offered were already saturated in the market and we still have unemployed teachers roaming mo seterateng (in the streets).

HONOURABLE MEMBER: What do you mean by ‘seterata’?

MR MOLAO: Is ‘seterata’ not a Setswana term?

MADAM SPEAKER: No.

MR MOLAO: I am told the right Setswana term to refer to streets is mekgwatlheng or mebileng. Therefore we are unable to employ those on the streets because public employment or placement is done by Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM). If there are no available posts where the unemployed can be attached, there is no how we can employ them. That is why we are going to keep having temporary teachers. If maybe there is someone who is retiring that is when that vacancy can be filled. We continue to place teachers as and when the DPSM gives us posts. In the financial year that is about to come to an end, 250 posts were filled for permanent employment. We agree that it is a slow process but that is how the growth of civil service prevents us from employing daily or the way we would have wished. The majority however is still on the streets.

UPDATE ON THE PRE-SCHOOL PROGRAMME AT SELEBI PHIKWE

MR D. L. KEORAPETSE (SELEBI PHIKWE WEST): asked the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development:-

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(i) to state the number and names of primary schools in Selebi Phikwe West Constituency where the pre-school programme is being piloted or has started; he should further state names of schools with;

(a) qualified pre-school teachers employed either on permanent or temporary basis;

(b) unqualified pre-school teachers employed either on permanent or temporary basis;

(c) teachers taken from mainstream teaching; and

(ii) which types of learning and other facilities (teaching materials, equipment and furniture) are needed but currently in short supply and when these will be procured.

ASSISTANT MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (MR VAN DER WESTHUIZEN): Madam Speaker,

(i) There are 4 primary schools in Selebi Phikwe West Constituency which have started Pre-primary programme. These are Joseph Anderson, Tebogo, Reuben Mpabanga and Lapologang Primary Schools.

(a) Joseph Anderson has 3 classes with 2 qualified teachers and 1 temporary qualified teacher, Lapologang has 2 classes with 2 qualified teachers, Tebogo 2 classes with 1 qualified teacher and 1 temporary teacher and Reuben Mpabanga has 3 classes with 3 qualified teachers.

(b) There are no unqualified teachers employed in all 4 schools.

(c) There are 2 teachers taken from the main stream at Reuben Mpabanga.

Madam Speaker,

(ii) The type of learning and other facilities that are in short supply include both furniture and indoor materials. Currently furniture (tables and chairs) in short supply is being procured and expected to be delivered starting the week of 21st March 2016. Furthermore, Jumbo Crayons and floor mats will be supplied for reception classes during the week starting 21st March 2016, including exercise books, teaspoons and rubbers. Thank you.

MR KEORAPETSE: Supplementary. Thank you Honourable Minister. There have been challenges that these teachers who are employed on temporary basis, at the beginning of every term, their contracts have to be renewed and sometimes it takes up to more than a

month. Are you aware of their terms of employment in terms of whether they are employed on temporary basis? I know this has been a problem.

MR VAN DER WESTHUIZEN: It is something that I am not aware of at this moment, which I will have to go and find out Honourable Member.

NUMBER OF DEATHS AND INJURIES CAUSED BY CROCODILES ALONG THAMALAKANE

RIVER FROM 2013 TO DATE

MR K. MARKUS (MAUN EAST): asked the Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism to state:-

(i) the number of deaths and injuries of the following caused by crocodiles along the Thamalakane River from 2013 to date;

(a) people;

(b) domestic animals; and

(ii) remedies to address this situation.

MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT, WILDLIFE AND TOURISM (MR T. S. KHAMA): Good afternoon Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker, the number of deaths and injuries on people and domestic animals caused by crocodiles along the Thamalakane River from 2013 to date are as follows:

(a) No person was killed during the period from 2013 to date. Three (3) people were injured; the first person was injured in February 2014, the second person was injured in April 2015 and the third person was injured in November 2015.

(b) A total of one hundred and fifty-one (151) domestic animals were killed and five (5) were injured, consisting of one hundred and thirty nine (139) goats, five (5) cows, two horses and one (1) foal, one (1) donkey, three (3) dogs and one (1) calf.

Madam Speaker, my Ministry has been responsive to the problem of crocodiles since 2011. Amongst others, the following mitigating measures have been implemented to address the situation:

•Radio spot announcements to sensitise the community on the presence and dangers of crocodiles in the river;

•Life capture and translocation of problem crocodiles to Gomoti River in Moremi Game Reserve;

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Tuesday 15thMarch, 2016 ORGANISATION 2000 -- ENVIRONMENT, WILDLIFE AND TOURISM- Committee of Supply

•All Maun Primary Schools have been addressed to educate students to approach the river with caution as they are most vulnerable.

I thank you Madam Speaker.

MR KEORAPETSE: Supplementary. Thank you Honourable Minister for your answer. I just wanted to find out if there are provisions for compensation of people who are either injured or killed by wild animals? If your answer is not in the affirmative, I just want to find out if your Ministry is in the process of putting that in place? Thank you.

MR T. S. KHAMA: Thank you Madam Speaker. The answer is affirmative to both. Thank you.

MR MARKUS: Supplementary. Minister, are you aware that mainly these crocodiles were washed away by floods, especially from the Crocodile Farm? If so, what are we doing to that farm to make sure that indeed it is secure and floods would not wash away those crocodiles?

MR T. S. KHAMA: Thank you Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, we are aware of that occurrence, it did not only happen in that area, it also happened in the Boteti area as well. What we have since done is that we have put measures in place to make sure that the current capacity of those particular farms are within the prescribed number and the facilities are adequately suitable to cater for that type of wildlife. Thank you Madam Speaker.

MR KEORAPETSE: Supplementary. Honourable Minister, I just wanted to find out how people killed by wild animals are compensated in terms of the amount or it differs?

MR T. S. KHAMA: Thank you Madam Speaker. Although that is not the original question but in any case, to offer an explanation, we have recently agreed an amount which is going to be published for those people who have lost their lives through wildlife. Thank you Madam Speaker.

MR MARKUS: Supplementary. Minister, how often do we do checks and balances on those farms to see that indeed they are secured? Do we do them more often or on yearly basis when they do their licenses?

MR T. S. KHAMA: Thank you Madam Speaker. The answer to that question is in my Committee of Supply Speech. We are not adequately capacitated enough to do as much as we would want to, or as often as we would like to. So, basically the answer to the Honourable Member’s question is that as and when the lost allows

us to do, we will do so. Is it suitable? No, it is not. Is it what we like? No, it is not what we like. The situation as it is would be indicated in my Committee of Supply Speech. You will understand the exact lack of resources that we have. I thank you Madam Speaker.

MAJ. GEN. MOKGWARE: Further supplementary. Thank you Madam Speaker. Honourable Minister, thank you for your answer. I was going to ask a similar question like Honourable Keorapetse, but you have answered half of it. With regards to the payments that you are going to bring up, have you considered paying for those who have been injured by these animals and taking care of their medical expenses when they are disabled?

MR T. S. KHAMA: Madam Speaker, I thank you. Yes, it is disturbing because we would really have liked to do exactly that. However, the budget as sad as it is, does not allow us to do that. As you know, we are behind on our payments of compensation, and that is a fact. So, the payment of the loss of life has been a difficult negotiation, but it is something that we have achieved. So, we look at it as being the beginning of something that will lead to assistance through injury and through loss of life. Thank you.

APPROPRIATION (2016/2017) BILL, 2016 (NO. 1 OF 2016)

ASSEMBLY IN COMMITTEE

(CHAIRPERSON in the Chair)

ORGANISATION 2000 -- ENVIRONMENT, WILDLIFE AND

TOURISM

MADAM CHAIRPERSON (MS KOKORWE): Order! Order! Honourable Members, you are asked to note that 2 hours 45 minutes have been allocated to this organisation. I shall call upon the Honourable Minister to reply to the debates at 16:50 hours today and the question would be put at 17:20 hours.

MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT, WILDLIFE AND TOURISM (MR T. S. KHAMA): Thank you Madam Chairperson. Madam Chairperson, I have the Honour to present to this Honourable House the 2016/17 recurrent and development budget requests for the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism. Before my presentation, let me share progress on some of my Ministry’s initiatives.

Department of Tourism

Madam Chairperson, in the past year, the Ministry established a Data Centre in collaboration with Statistics

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Botswana in order to address the problem of backlog on migration statistics. The Data centre has facilitated data entry for the years 2010 to 2014. Most of the migration statistics has been analysed to generate preliminary tourism statistics. A technical expert has been recruited and has commenced work to put together the Tourism Satellite Account for a new reference year. I am therefore very optimistic that before the end of the year 2016, the Ministry would have determined the contribution of Botswana’s tourism to the GDP.

I am happy to report that Batswana continue to participate in the tourism industry. For quite some time, we have seen a steady increase in tourism facilities owned by citizens. Out of 1247 tourism facilities, 762 are wholly citizen owned, 251 are Joint Ventures and only 234 are Foreign owned.

My Ministry is also close to completing the tourism policy which will provide the much needed direction for tourism industry now and into the future, consistent with the sustainable development goals.

Botswana Tourism Organisation

The Ministry continues to intensify efforts to develop more tourism products across the country in order to increase the tourism footprint and contribute towards Botswana’s economic growth. Among the projects under the Economic Stimulus Programme the Kasane Kazungula Redevelopment Project (KKRP) is without doubt a key tourism development project and is scheduled to commence in 2016/17 financial year albeit currently with a budget to support the project agency team only. Several other tourism projects will be included in the National Development Plan 11.

Development of Dams Tourism Master Plans for Letsibogo and Thune are at final stages and identified sites will be advertised soon after completion. The required infrastructure will be put in place to facilitate development of the sites. Master plans for other dams such as Dikgatlhong are at scoping and scheduled for completion by end of March 2016.

We continue to engage and work with various communities, assisting them to develop ecotourism products in their areas, create employment and ensure that rural economies are indeed stimulated for the benefit of communities living with natural resources. Tourism development and diversification strategies are being pursued, including culture and heritage partnership with communities such as Nata Sanctuary, Lake Ngami, Gcwihaba Caves, Phuduhudu Cultural Village and Tsodilo Hills. Budget is currently being sourced to host the Gcwihaba Cultural Festival 2016.

Focus has also been on developing sport and adventure events including the Khawa Festival, Kalahari Cycle Challenge, Toyota Dessert Race, Tour de Tuli, Race for Rhinos and the Makgadikgadi Epic.

As regards marketing and promotion of the tourism product, we participate in international events and programmes including the partnership with National Geographic Society and their World Legacy Awards and the Partnership with ITB Germany, the largest travel and tourism business to business trade fair. We also hosted the 3rd Annual Botswana Travel and Tourism Expo in December, attracting international tour operators and travel media from Europe, USA and Australia. Further, BTO is embarking on plans, funding allowing, to further develop our presence in the international arena by opening offices in our Embassies around the world, including the USA (x2), Australia, Brazil and Dubai. In the international market, BTO attends the following trade shows: FITUR in Spain; BIT in Italy; WTM Latin America; JATA in Japan and WTM London. Two new international shows include Travel Trade Russia and Adventure Travel and Tourism in Alaska. In the regional market BTO attended WTM Africa in Cape Town; we are Africa in Cape Town; Indaba in Durban; Namibian Tourism Expo and Pure Life Experiences in Cape Town.

National Museum and Monuments

Madam Chairperson, efforts to promote Botswana’s cultural and natural heritage continue. To this end, developments at Domboshaba and Livingstone Kolobeng are complete while construction of a gatehouse at Lekhubu National Monument is envisaged to be completed by September 2016. The South Sowa Heritage Trail is now complete. Construction of gatehouses at Old Palapye, Ntsweng, Baratani Hill, Maleshe, Matsieng and Manyana Monuments will commence in the 2016/17 financial year through the Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP).

My Ministry continues to refurbish historic buildings. These include the Legislative House in Lobatse, Sekgoma’s House in Serowe and the Jailor’s House in Francistown. Access roads and trails have been completed at Old Shoshong, Dikalate, Old Kachikau, Unikae, Simon Cooper, Kgope and Phanga Hill heritage sites. Seventy (70) temporary field custodians have been employed to manage, conserve and guide visitors at some of our premier heritage/cultural sites.

As a way of promoting our heritage and showcasing the wildlife resources that Botswana conserves, an Elephant Ivory Sculpture and Columnar Joints were constructed at Sir Seretse Khama International Airport. Kazungula Liberation Heritage monument was also launched as

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part of the African Union Initiative of African Liberation Heritage or Roads to Independence. Due to budget constraints, some critical projects that facilitate tourism diversification through cultural heritage could not be undertaken, amongst them; procurement of alternative power supply to preserve artefacts and CCTV for artefacts security.

Wildlife and National Parks

Madam Chairperson, prominent among our challenges is the increasing number of Human Wildlife Conflict incidences which has doubled the funding required for compensation, and also resulted in a significant amount of compensation backlog. From April 2015 to date we have had a total number of 5, 256 cases involving problem animals such as elephant, lion and cheetah. Damage caused by these animals resulted in total compensation of over P10 million. Out of this, only P6 million was paid leaving us with a shortfall of P7.6 million due to insufficient funds. A concerted effort is therefore required to ensure the uptake of strategies provided to farmers against Human Wildlife Conflict and reduce demand for compensation. I would therefore like to urge Honourable Members to assist in sensitizing communities of the importance of herding their livestock and keeping them in kraals at night to protect them from predators. I will appreciate the implementation of initiatives such as the use of chilli, herding dogs, black shades and others as shall be advised by the Ministry from time to time.

My Ministry continues to drill boreholes in National Parks, Game Reserves and Wildlife Management Areas. To date, we have secured funds for fifty boreholes and they will be strategically located to mitigate against the impact of drought and reduce the incidences of human-wildlife conflict.

The importance of wildlife in our tourism industry cannot be overemphasized. My Ministry therefore continues to closely monitor the population of different species. 28 white and 25 black rhinos were received in 2015 from South Africa and Zimbabwe respectively. Unfortunately, we lost 2 white and 3 black rhinos through natural mortality in the same year. Other species that were experiencing a decline in numbers are slowly recovering.

We are also strengthening human resources within anti-poaching units around the country through provision of accommodation and additional equipment. As such, construction works for Kang Anti-Poaching Unit was to commence by March 2016 but has been delayed by a legal challenge before the awarding boards. Due to budget ceilings Maun Camp was cancelled and

this will affect our operational capabilities. Kasane Anti-poaching Camp though scaled down, will be implemented in 2016/17. We have asked the Ministry of Finance to divert funds from the anticipated savings in Kasane to buy helicopters and game relocation vehicles so as to assist in managing wildlife and wild fires. This I understand will be included in the supplementaries.

The following could not be completed because of insufficient funds:

(a) Construction of Staff houses and an office in Seronga.

(b) Construction of a bridge across Khumaga River into Makgadikgadi National Park.

(c) Maintenance of offices and staff houses throughout the country.

(d) Maintenance of fences.

The hunting moratorium is continuing to show positive results in terms of reversing some of the wildlife declines that have been observed in the country. We are still awaiting the results of the aerial survey completed in November 2015 to inform the final position on the moratorium. We however note the increase in the elephants population which we now estimate to be around 170 000.

On the fisheries sector, to ensure that use of the resource is properly regulated, my ministry is reviewing the Fish Protection Regulations of 2008. Utilization of fish resources presents an opportunity for communities to develop but I cannot emphasize enough that this must be done in

a sustainable manner. In this regard, efforts to monitor fish stocks will be stepped up. It will also be noted that the regulations were reviewed to benefit Batswana.

Madam Chairperson, the Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) programme is doing well and continues to grow. During April to December 2015, a total of P13 086 963 was generated through CBNRM projects. This is an increase of P4 million over the same period in 2014. My ministry continues to support communities through transition to non-consumptive tourism. Further efforts are being made to identify potential investors for community concession areas.

Environmental Affairs

Madam Chairperson, we have produced a draft National Framework for Sustainable Development to guide and direct the national developments of our country to be

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sustainable. This framework will also enhance the new Vision 2036 preparation and lay foundation for the National Development Plan 11. Through the Gaborone Declaration for Sustainability in Africa (GDSA), we are offering to assist African member states to manage the natural capital for sustainability. At least 10 African states are members and four have applied to be members of GDSA. The GDSA is intended to manage natural capital through mainstreaming it in the national economic planning. It is also recognized as a vehicle for implementation of environmental flagship programmes by African Ministers of Environment forum.

In line with the Doing Business initiative and to support the ESP implementation, we have reviewed the Environmental Assessment processes to improve turnaround times without compromising the environment. Madam Chairperson, we are still concerned by the continuous disregard of caring for the environment by some communities, private sector and Government institutions despite our commitment to assist them adhere to best environmental practices. An example is the Roads Department which did not take cognisance of the landscape profiles when building roads in Kasane resulting in erosion due to soil wash away. It is high time we appreciate as a nation, that the environment is our home and hence the need for collective responsibility in caring for it.

Forestry and Range Resources

The government of Botswana continues to promote tree planting for various conservation projects across the country in order to augment natural forests. By so doing, we will then increase our carbon sink. As such, the target for NDP 10 was to plant 1 000 000 tree seedlings and this effort will continue into NDP 11. To date 794 246 tree seedlings have been planted with survival rate of 70 per cent despite water challenges over the years.

With collaborative efforts from various stakeholders and effective implementation of an integrated fire management strategy, the ministry has reduced the area burnt from 15.4 million hectares in 2011 to 1.1 million hectares in 2015. Currently, discussions are at an advanced stage to establish Botswana Rural Fire Services, an entity that will primarily deal with effective and efficient management of wild fires in the country. To this end, the ministry has procured eleven (11) specialized fire vehicles and four (4) customized Porta Cabins for the Regional Fire Stations in the Central, Ngamiland, Gantsi and Southern districts.

Madam Chairperson, my ministry continues implementation of the Project for Enhancing National Forest Monitoring System (NFMS) for the Promotion

of Sustainable Natural Resources Management in partnership with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). At the end of the project in June this year, we envisage Sustainable Forest management, sharing and utilizing information among relevant stakeholders including government agencies and local Communities. In addition, an expert has been engaged to undertake an Economic Valuation (wealth accounting) of forest resources identified through the NFMS project. However Madam Chairperson, we are concerned that communities, the private sector and some Government Ministries/departments continue to disregard our efforts on environmental protection in the Chobe Forest Reserves by illegally mining sand and gravel.

My ministry has started an initiative to address land degradation issues in Ngamiland, Central (Boteti) and Kgalagadi. The initiative will mainstream sustainable land management in these areas in order to improve people’s livelihoods. Capacity building on fire management, rangeland assessment and leather works has been undertaken for communities in Ngamiland and Boteti.

Madam Chairperson, in an effort to holistically address the issues of forest management and following the approval of the Forest Policy of 2011, my ministry revised the three pieces of legislation being Herbage Preservation (Prevention of Fires) Act CAP 38:02 of 1977, Agricultural Resources Conservation CAP 35:06 of 1974 and Forest Act CAP 38:03 into a single Instrument. The draft Forest Bill is anticipated to go before Parliament in its next sitting. However, I am concerned that due to budgetary constraints the project on the development of the Forest Regulations to go with the Forest Bill was not undertaken. The implication being the Forest Bill will not be fully implemented due to lack of the Regulations. Furthermore, all processes relating to the development of the management plans for the forest reserves are now underway. This will open opportunities for Batswana to explore ecotourism in the forest reserves hence diversifying the tourism product.

Meteorological Services

Madam Chairperson, the preparation of Botswana climate change policy is at the final draft stage and nearing completion. The policy will facilitate the mainstreaming of climate change in development, planning and resultant climate change adaptation and mitigation response strategies.

Consistent with the outcomes of Climate Change negotiations at the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) in December 2015, Botswana like other countries, is obligated to address climate change through her

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Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). In our effort to realize this objective, I have already met Ministers of key sectors that contribute directly to greenhouse gases and shared my expectation of their input in addressing climate change as well as how we will facilitate them in accessing sources of funding mechanisms such as the Green Climate Fund, Adaptation Fund and other related funding sources to implement INDCs in mitigating impacts of climate change.

Failure to address climate change will impact on agricultural activities, lead to drying dams and resulting in serious food security. It will also lead to increased competition of land use and conflicts between wildlife and livestock. Madam Chair, during the month of January this year, Botswana recorded her highest ever maximum temperatures of 43°C as a result of global warming. This demonstrates the need to urgently address climate change issues including changing our lifestyle patterns.

Waste Management and Pollution Control

Madam Chairperson, in an effort to address environmental pollution, we have embarked on consultations at all levels to seek a participatory approach.We are currently consulting on our intention of banning plastic carrier bags due to the menace it causes in the environment. We continue to avail ourselves in guiding on best waste management practices as well as provision of Ipelegeng workers to assist in open environment clean up. As for inadequate sanitation infrastructure we advocated for prioritization of this sector through Thematic Working Group budgeting as well as involvement of private sector.

There is a gradual public health threat and environmental pollution brought about by certain operations mainly from some mines, industries and coal fired power stations. The case of air pollution by BCL in Selebi-Phikwe is an old one. We have advised the mine to this dire situation and asked them to comply with standards to reduce the possible risks of human and environmental exposure.

In view of these challenges, in June 2015, my ministry commenced the development of the national waste policy that will guide the entire cycle of waste planning and management in the country. The policy is expected to be finalised in the 2016/17 financial year.

Botswana is signatory to a number of environmental conventions. Lately, we have acceded to the Minamata Convention on Mercury. By endorsing these conventions, Botswana stands a chance of being assisted

in the sound management of hazardous chemicals and thereby fulfilling its international obligations.

Madam Chairperson, before I present the budget, it is worth noting that at least 70 per cent of our recurrent budget is for salaries as is the case with Department of Wildlife and National Parks where the budget is 4.4 million Pula per month. Further, there is no substantial increase in the tourism budget though we are undertaking initiatives to market the country and tourism is the second engine of growth. Similarly, despite the economy being driven by the environment, environmental issues are not been given the importance they deserve.

2016/2017 RECURRENT BUDGET – P615, 444,400.00

Madam Chairperson, allow me now to present the budget proposals under my Ministry for the financial year 2016/2017, starting with the Recurrent Budget.

I propose the 2016/2017 budget for the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism in the sum of Six Hundred and Fifteen Million, Four Hundred and Forty Four Thousand, Four Hundred Pula (P615, 444,400.00) for the recurrent budget. The Departmental Provisions are as outlined below;

Department 2001 – Headquarters – P 177,699,050

I submit a request of One Hundred and Seventy Seven Million, Six Hundred and Ninety Nine Thousand and Fifty Pula (P177, 699,050.00) for Ministry Headquarters. The largest share of this budget (50 per cent) goes to Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO) in the sum of Eighty Nine Million Pula (P89, 000,000).

Department 2002 –Wildlife & National Parks – P 214,691,200

Madam Chairperson, I request the sum of Two Hundred and Fourteen Million, Six Hundred and Ninety One Thousand, Two Hundred Pula (P214, 691,200) for the department of Wildlife and National Parks and constitutes 35 per cent of the ministry’s recurrent budget. The bulk of the budget in the sum of One Hundred and Sixty One Million, Four Hundred and Twenty Three Thousand, Four Hundred and Sixty Pula (P161, 423,460) or 75 per cent is allocated to Personnel Emoluments.

Department 2003 – Tourism – P16, 782,390

I propose a provision of Sixteen Million, Seven Hundred and Eighty Two Thousand, Three Hundred and Ninety Pula (P16, 782,390) for the Department of

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Tourism. Eleven Million, Six Hundred and Ninety Eight Thousand and Thirty Pula (P11, 698,030) or 70 per cent of the budget allocation goes to Personnel Emoluments.

Department 2004 – Meteorological Services P 51,933,320

Madam Chairperson, for the Department of Meteorological Services, I request Fifty One Million, Nine Hundred and Thirty Three Thousand, Three Hundred and Twenty Pula (P51, 933,320). Personnel Emoluments amount to Forty Million, Six Hundred and Fifty Eight Thousand, Three Hundred and Seventy Pula (P40, 658,370) or 78 per cent of the Department’s total budget.

Department 2005 – Waste Management & Pollution Control – P 20,248,430

Twenty Million, Two Hundred and Forty Eight Thousand, Four Hundred and Thirty Pula (P20, 248,430) is requested for the Department of Waste Management and Pollution Control. Personnel Emoluments amount to Thirteen Million, Three Hundred and Forty Thousand, Four Hundred and Ninety Pula (P13, 340,490) or 66 per cent of the Department’s total budget.

Department 2006 – Forestry & Range Resources – P 88,961,400

Madam Chairperson, the Department of Forestry and Range Resources recurrent needs stand at Eighty Eight Million, Nine Hundred and Sixty One Thousand, Four Hundred Pula (P88,961,400). Forty Nine Million, Two Hundred and Sixty Six Thousand and Ninety Pula (P49, 266,090) or 55 per cent of the budget allocation goes to Personnel Emoluments.

Department 2007- Environmental Affairs – P 22,379,940

The Department of Environmental Affairs requests Twenty Two Million, Three Hundred and Seventy Nine Thousand, Nine Hundred and Forty Pula (P22, 379,940). The largest share of this budget amounting to Thirteen Million, Six Hundred and Eighty Nine Thousand, Nine Hundred and Thirty Pula (P13, 689,930) or 61 per cent goes to Personnel Emoluments.

Department 2008 – National Museum & Monuments – P 22,748,670

I request an allocation of Twenty Two Million, Seven Hundred and Forty Eight Thousand, Six Hundred and Seventy Pula (P22, 748,670) for the Department of National Museum and Monuments. Fifteen Million, Five Hundred and Eighty Nine Thousand, Eight

Hundred and Seventy Pula (P15, 589,870) or 69 per cent of the budget allocation goes to Personnel Emoluments.

2016/2017 DEVELOPMENT BUDGET – P213, 517,643

Madam Chairperson, I request Two Hundred and Thirteen Million, Five Hundred and Seventeen Thousand, Six hundred and Forty Three Pula (P213, 517, 643) as Development Budget for my Ministry for the financial year 2016/2017. This budget request is for the following programmes;

Department 2001 – Ministry Headquarters-P71, 146,209

Seventy One Million, One Hundred and Forty Six Thousand Two Hundred and Nine (71,146,209) for the Ministry Headquarters. The funds are for implementation of the following projects;

i. Eight Hundred and Fifty- Five Thousand (P855, 000) is requested for MEWT Computerisation.

ii. Thirty Seven Million, Two Hundred and Sixty Thousand (37,260,000) is requested for Fleet Expansion

ii. Five Million, One hundred and Thirty Thousand Pula (P5, 130,000) is requested for Natural Resources Management.

iii. Four Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pula, (P450, 000) is for Environmental Management Activities.

iv. Twenty Seven Million, Four Hundred and Fifty One Thousand Two Hundred and Nine Pula (P27, 451, 209) is requested for BTB Finances.

This comes from thirty three million eight hundred and eighty six thousand, two hundred and nine Pula, the difference of thirty seven million two hundred and sixteen Pula been fleet expansion from Department of Wildlife and National Parks.

Department 2002 – Wildlife and National Parks – P128, 340,000

Madam Chairperson, I request One Hundred and Twenty Eight Million, Three Hundred Forty Thousand Pula (128,340,000) for the Department of Wildlife and National Parks. The funds are meant for the Development of DWNP which entails; final payments for construction of Department of Wildlife and National Parks Staff Houses at Sedudu, Management Plans for Protected Areas, Construction of Kang Ant poaching Unit, bulk services for Kasane and Maun Ant poaching Units, DWNP Fence Maintenance & Development and Wildlife Borehole Drilling and water reticulation.

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Department 2004 – Meteorological Services-P2, 700,000

Madam Chairperson, for the Department of Meteorological Services I request Two Million, Seven Hundred Thousand Pula (P2, 700,000). The funds are for procurement of equipment and vehicles for the Ncojane Synoptic Station.

Department 2005-Waste Management and Pollution Control – P6, 831,434

I request Six Million, Eight Hundred and Thirty One Thousand, Four Hundred and Thirty Four Pula (P6, 831,434) for the Department of Waste Management and Pollution Control for implementation of the following programmes;

•National Rural Sanitation Programme requires a provision of Nine Hundred Thousand Pula (P900, 000) for final payments for KasaneKazungula Sewerage Scheme project.

• Pollution Prevention and Control requires a provision of Five Million, Nine Hundred and Thirty One Thousand, Four Hundred and Thirty Four Pula (P5, 931,434) for the Development of Waste Policy and an integrated Pollution Control Act and Development of Air Quality Management Framework.

Department 2008 - National Museum and Monuments – P4, 500,000

A provision of Four Million, Five Hundred Thousand Pula (P4, 500,000) is required for the Monument Development project.

Madam Chairperson, this concludes my presentation of the 2015/2016 recurrent and development budget requests for my Ministry. I therefore move that the sum of Six Hundred and Fifteen Million, Four Hundred and Forty Four Thousand and Four Pula (P615,444,400) under the Recurrent Budget for Head 2000 be approved and stand part of the Schedule of Appropriation (2016/2017) Bill, 2016 (No. 1 of 2016); and that the sum of Two Hundred and Thirteen Million, Five Hundred and Seventeen Thousand, Six hundred and Forty Three Pula (P213, 517, 643) for Head 2000 in the Development Fund Estimates be approved and stand part of those estimates.

I thank you. I move accordingly.

MR KWEREPE (NGAMI): I thank you Madam Chairperson. I support the Minister and also thank him for his efforts in improving the tourism sector in

my constituency more specially in Xaixai. They are improving the Xaixai cave and they want to source water there and I suspect that their efforts might fail and we would go back to where we started. If the Xaixai cave was in use, the residents were going to benefit. I am however worried Minister that even though I appreciate your efforts, there are other areas that we feel if you were putting more effort on them, we were going to benefit even more.

In Sehithwa constituency, there is a Lake called Ngami. It is a tourist attraction and at the same time it has fish that the residents benefit from. Ever since fishing was suspended, you promised that you will do an environmental impact assessment, a year has passed and there is no sign of impact assessment. We were told that in March this year fishing would be opened for the people, but that is not the case. People were used to the idea that they benefit from Lake Ngami. Therefore they have never stopped going to the lake for fishing and this is dangerous as they end up losing lives at the lake. If fishing was open for these people, they were not going to suffer. There is no how one can ignore something that can be helpful in his life, more specially if he had tried that thing before.

I am standing here asking you to do the impact assessment report so that Lake Ngami can be opened. Fish is dying in the lake while people are dying of hunger out there. I do not think that assessment is that important to us because as a government our main mandate is to take care of our people.

The Second challenge is problematic animals; the lions are killing livestock and the owners are not compensated even though there is a policy that says such people must be compensated. The residents in my constituency are owed close to 2 million, since 5 years back they have not been compensated. Minister I urge you to talk to your office so that they could compensate our people on time. These backlogs of payments are the reasons some people might decide to kill some wild animals as a payback for having killed their livestock. What we want is a prompt compensation to the people. I do not understand why it has to take such a long time for the compensations to be paid; it shows a serious inefficiency. People are failing to co-exist with wild animals due to this.

The Government idea of Community Based Natural Resources Management (CBNRM) was a very great concept but it does not seem to be effective because there are no communities who seem to be benefiting from the services of CBNRMs. We are trying to build some trusts but your Ministry is not giving us the necessary support. One of the Government strategies is to make

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sure that the animals benefits us a nation so you need to look into this matter urgently. The conflict between the people and animals is an issue of concern to them and myself as their Minister. We receive complaints about animals daily. There was an arrangement that was made by the tourism sector to try and help those who have been affected but I have forgotten the English name …..

HONOURABLE MEMBER: Levy.

MR KWEREPE: I beg your pardon.

HONOURABLE MEMBER: Levy.

MR KWEREPE: It is not levy. It is the one that is available to assist people.

HONOURABLE MEMBER: The social responsibility.

MR KWEREPE: The social corporate responsibility. I do not know if it is voluntary or if is authorised because it is not functional. If it was authorised, it will be binding to them to help out without being followed up. Lastly, the tourism offices are no longer called land boards but are rather called by the societies that oversee the tourism sector. I do not know how you view this Honourable Minister. The land board needs to take responsibility of allocating plots for tourism.

Tourism investors in my constituency are complaining that they have long applied for their leases but they never got a reply therefore they are not developing due to this. We are now worried that people who have been employed in these camps might lose their jobs due to their employer’s lease issues which have been pending for years. These people are not developing but at the same time we are promoting tourism as a form of employment. These investors are held up by the leases that they long applied for. Honourable Minister lets us resolve these matters as urgently as possible. Thank you.

MR MOREMI (MAUN WEST): Thank you Madam Chairperson. I was not planning to say anything because from way back I have never seen the benefit of coming to Parliament to talk. I do not see how I can bring myself to come to Parliament and grovel for funds that I am entitled to. There was a Community Based Natural Resource Management Forum recently in Maun; it was a meeting for all the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) that deals with use of natural resources. They have come up with resolutions and the reason I am standing is because I would like the Honourable Minister to understand one of their resolutions and engage it because according to CBNRMs it is of great concern. The main one is that they are concerned about the fact that the Honourable Minister does not want to meet up with them. They said that they have tried by all

means to meet with the Honourable minister but were unsuccessful. This is one of the resolutions that were discussed at the CBNRM Forum.

As I earlier said, I do not see the benefit of this process because even when we discussed the main budget, I explained that it is not in the constitution of the country. The way the Ministry of Wildlife and Tourism accumulates money is also not constitutional. When John Steinberg was a Member of Parliament in 1968 in the first Parliament that created the Tribal Land Act, he said that the Bechuanaland Democratic Party manifesto states that communal and individual rights to land are going to be respected by Bechuanaland Democratic Party. It was even used in Parliament as one of the pillars of amending the Tribal Land Act. Even when it was amended in 1992, the Attorney General who was then Honourable Skelemani explained that communal and individual rights to land are going to be respected. When the Moremi Game Reserve was located on tribal land which is communally owned by identifiable people, the reasoning behind that was to the effect that we can feed even the outlying areas with wild animals; so that they can have refuge and those that lives on them can do so. That was the Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM), so that people could understand that this is a financial economic asset. White people assisted and the reports that were produced indicated that to increase the value of the outlying or adjacent wilderness plains is one of the aims of establishing a game reserve. What happens now is that those outlying areas where there are community based organisations there are people who now earn a living through game farming. There was once a man called Mr Khama and that was what he was called by that time before he came to be called Sir Seretse Khama, who said in Parliament that one has to make a decision on whether they rear cattle or wild animals. He even said that as Bangwato they had no interest in rearing wild animals. This therefore means that those who want to rear wild animals if they think they have a choice, they must make that decision. He said that in 1961 in October, in this Parliament. The decision has therefore been made by those who took it that they will raise the value of our country through taking care of the wildlife, creating tourism assets, and in declaring tourism as an industry into our area’. And that is done.

In 2013, 2014 and 2015 the government then stated that it will be taking away our areas and placing them at the land bank and it will be the one to distribute them. Really! Can someone take something that belongs to someone else! The Bechuanaland Democratic Party manifesto clearly stated that, ‘individual and communal ownership of land will be respected.’ The Constitution

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of Botswana even says that however currently the CBOs complain about the resolutions that have been written. Honourable Kwerepe has just been explaining that. There is now something called the land bank that gives out licenses to foreign operators. We are seeing communism tendencies that were practices in history by Russia where government had all the powers. This then results in a vacuum because there is no owner, now the state becomes the owner. The government states that, ‘this national interest belongs to all of us, so I take from you.’ You then wonder why the many boreholes that have been drilled in Serowe are not taken and yet we find it right to take concessions and game reserves form communities in the pretext that they belong to everyone and people will work in the industry if they want employment’. It is even there in the Bible that it is not good to take that which belongs to somebody else. Then somebody wants us to come to Parliament and beg for developments! Well, I find it very difficult to beg you to give me what belongs to me.

HONOURABLE MEMBERS:...laughter...

MR MOREMI: No, I am saying that one is illegal and I would not be doing it. The CBOs complain that the powers have been taken away from them. There was one man called Brook Hayes at the department of Wildlife and National Parks, he is the one who came and did what was done at the time when Africa was divided. He did the same with at the Wildlife and National Parks in 1992 when the CBN was done. Whether there are people there is irrelevant to a Dutch man or a Belgian called Brook Hayes. We are however there, we live there, we rear our livestock there and we survive on those things but we are told that all that will be taken away because we are going against what the policy says. There is a contradiction though because, when you go back to the Ministry of Lands and Housing, we are told to register our plots including the old places we used to reside at. I do not think that I can stand up to support a request for such an illegal budget. Thank you Mr Chairman.

MR MOIPISI (KGALAGADI NORTH): Thank you Mr Chairman. I will start off by…

MR MOSWAANE: Point of order. I just wanted to correct something because we record these proceedings. The Member stated that some words were said in this Parliament in 1961 but I would like to say that it is information that can mislead. I hope that Kgosi will not misunderstand me but it was not referred to as Parliament back then in 1961, it was called the Legislative Council, please correct that. Thank you so much.

MR MOREMI: Yes Sir, I should correct that. It was called the Legislative Council. Sorry Honourable

Moswaane.

MR MOIPISI: Thank you Mr Chairman. I should start off by talking about climate change that the Minister mentioned in his speech that Botswana is on the way to drafting a climate change policy. Honourable Minister Botswana is already behind and we should have long started work on this issue. We realised when we were in France last time that countries have made progress to try and address this issue. We can see that things have changed in our country, there is drought, there are less rains, disease and dams are drying up. All these things are a result of global warming and I would like to say that the time has come for us to have a policy that will show people how we intend to protect ourselves from the effects of climate change; adaptation and mitigation of impacts of climate change. That is basically what I am saying, that we are behind and we should strive to have that policy in place.

We have been talking about climate change, or global warming and countries normally hold what is called ‘Global Earth Hour every 19th of March.’ They suspend their jobs for a period to remember and reduce all that contributes to global warming. Others turn off the lights, they car pool as a way to reduce energy consumption. So, as Botswana we will hold the Global Earth Hour on March 19th too. I would like to encourage the Honourable Members that we should do something on March 19th from 20:30 to 21:30 to try and commemorate this day that tries to reduce global warming.

Let me finish with climate change and now move on to waste. As Botswana, we do not have a hazardous waste landfill site. This means we do not know where the hazardous waste which is generated by companies ends up. Maybe it ends up in the veld, others at our landfills which are not designed for hazardous waste. Honourable Minister maybe the time has come for us to request funds to build hazardous waste sites. These days we have these gadgets, computers. Just imagine, these computers have been here for a very long time; where are they going to be disposed of? These are some of the things which we need to pay close attention to, and request government to build hazardous waste sites. An example of a hazardous waste site Honourable Minister; you can go to South Africa at a place called Holfontein in Johannesburg. When I was still working at Debswana, I visited that place. That is where companies like Debswana dispose of hazardous waste, but it is very costly for Botswana because it is monitored to ensure that the environment does not get polluted in any way.

Moving on from that one on hazardous waste Minister, let me now talk about community trusts, or talk about

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people who make a living out of natural resources, those who are far from developments or resources. People in my constituency, particularly talking about it; they used to depend on hunting wild animals; now since hunting has been stopped, they are facing challenges. There is nothing which is generating income in the community trusts. In January when I was consulting with them, they were lamenting saying since there is no hunting, no funds are not coming in. They really need assistance from your ministry Honourable Minister.

Let me also talk about the Anti-poaching Unit. You said in your presentation that you are going to build a wildlife camp at Kang. I am grateful for that one Honourable Minister. Although there are many pending appeal cases, I do not know what the matter is; this will now cause a delay. The people in the constituency will find jobs when this facility is being constructed. This is something we are very grateful for.

You also spoke about veld fires; the Kgalagadi constituency at large is prone to veld fires, annually the veld burns. I heard you saying in your speech that you have secured vehicles which will be used in fighting these fires as well as the porta cabins where they will be stationed. I did not hear you mentioning my Kgalagadi constituency, yet it is an area susceptible to fires every year.

You have also talked about the cultural celebrations venue at Diphuduhudu. This place has long been talked about, and it is still being talked about; there is nothing happening there. Check what the problem could be because I remember when we were doing budget allocations last year, we still talked about it.

Conflict between grazing areas and wildlife; my constituency of Kgalagadi, even my predecessors have been told that there is conflict between grazing land and wildlife areas. Farmers have realised that it seems national parks have occupied more space; 57 per cent of the land is for wildlife and only 37 per cent is for grazing and residential, and 7 per cent for freehold. They asked me to request you Minister to visit the constituency, and listen to their grievances as the people of Kgalagadi, so that when they talk about lack of grazing land and wildlife, you would know what they exactly mean.

The predators which are not compensated for; I once talked about this issue in the last session of Parliament, that there are some predators which are not compensated for. Animals like the spotted hyena. The suggestion from the constituency is that rather than increasing the existing compensation amount, maybe the number of predators covered could be increased. When the spotted

hyena finds your goats, as we are giving people goats for the poverty eradication programme; this hyena would slay them all and that would mean the end of the project, and an individual would suffer. If there is compensation which someone could get, maybe they would buy some more goats. I heard the Minister very well when he said we should encourage people to take care of their belongings. Even when they take care of them, during the night the spotted hyena attacks goats; it comes and kills them right inside the kraals. These are some of the points which we could review.

The tourism office in Kgalagadi North; at the moment we are getting assistance from the Tsabong office. Honourable Minister you know Tsabong is very far from Hukuntsi. Let us also look into some of these things and consider having a satellite Tourism office in Hukuntsi so that it services Kgalagadi North, rather than us depending on Tsabong, which is more than 500 kilometres from Hukuntsi. The officer does not serve the constituency well because they are far.

Let me conclude with this one of reuse of waste water. Honourable Minister collaborate more with Honourable Mokaila because since we are country which does not have enough water, we could re-use this waste water. Thank you.

ASSISTANT MINISTER OF EDUCATION AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT (MR GOYA): Thank you Mr Chairperson for giving me this opportunity. Even though there are no elephants in Palapye, they attacked us last year.

I want to say the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism is one of the Ministries which could be generating a lot of income for this country. This Ministry is really trying, there is a lot that it is doing. It is generating income because tourists come here to see our wildlife. I was thinking we should ensure that for those who cannot afford to go and see our wildlife at our game reserves, can you not ensure that in places like Gaborone, Francistown and Palapye included, you find a place where you can put an elephant, lions and cheetahs; build a huge place where you can house them. We see in other countries they do not have places where they go to see wildlife naturally, but they have captured them and put them zoos. School children go there to see them nearby; they do not have to ride in vehicles with big wheels going far in the bush. They see them right under their noses, and there is income which is generated which in the end assists in the economy of a country. I was thinking we could do the same thing.

We heard you saying in your speech Honourable Minister that, “Batswana continue to participate in the

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tourism industry.” Where we are currently, let it not just be participation for Batswana only, let it be that Batswana should compete with these foreigners in the tourism industry. I hope if we could do a bit of research right now and look at the 762 Batswana you are talking about who own the tourism businesses, comparing them with the 234 foreign owned businesses, when you look at the benefits accrued by Batswana, they are far below those gained by foreigners. The 234 foreigners make very high profit; hence this shows that as Batswana we are not yet at the desired stage in the tourism sector. Therefore Batswana should be capacitated such that they will be able to compete in our tourism industry.

I would like to commend the Honourable Minister for having been able to conclude on the policy that governs tourism. It was long overdue because we should have adopted it long time ago and it will be governing the tourism sector.

Honourable Minister, what do we intend to do with the escalating number of elephants which has reached a number of 170 000 and yet we are complaining of lack of insufficient funds when we have assets like these. These elephants continue to destroy people’s property and in Palapye they destroyed their fences. Sometimes when we raise complaints about them we are told that we should just learn to live with them. This does not sit well with my constituents. Now since we are not used to living with them, it will be ideal for the tourism officers to teach us how to live with them instead of just being told that we will learn to live with them, that is the way to address people like us who have never seen an elephant until this age. May I urge you to encourage your officers to go around the country in areas where there are not elephants on how to behave should they have an encounter with elephants?

I would also like to comment you for the advice you rendered to us when we wanted to construct a junior school in Francistown Gerald Estates because we forgot to conduct the EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment). I can assure you that the construction is still in process and it is targeted to be in operational next year 2017.

However I am still wondering how others like BHC managed to construct houses without your input because we had the desire to buy their houses for our teachers only to find them cracked. How were they given the permission to construct in that area without conducting the EIA first, is it possible for that to happen without the assessment first?

The other issue that I wanted to touch on is that of climate change. This is an issue that has been talked about for a very long but we are not doing enough to

sensitize Batswana about it. We were once showed a video about this and the assumption was that after that it will be shown to the rest of the nation just to sensitize them on the danger of this. That never happened. That is why when we were attacked by elnino just a while ago, a lot of Batswana lost their lives due to lack of knowledge when it comes to climate change.

Climate change has its own aftermath and we did not think out of the box when our dams ran dry because we could have dug out the soil that has been there. Now we are in a rainy season, the water is filling up the dams while they are filled up with that soil. We did not take advantage of the climate change and I believe these are the things that we ought to learn so that we take advantage.

One more thing, may I urge you to talk to your colleague Minister of Energy and Water Resources and ask him what he intends to do with the quantity of waste that we see around the country which some now look like a hill when it is just a hip of garbage. It can benefit us if we use it to produce electricity because it is worrisome that we do not have enough electricity as a country and yet we are surrounded by too much waste. Villages that are around these areas should have been connected to the national grid from the waste area but that is not the case.

This is something that we need to seriously consider because waste can play an important role and we therefore have to come up with strategies that we can explore to make use of it. However let me commend you for having been able to conclude on the issue of the Climate Change Policy. Maybe the reason why you did not do anything on educating Batswana about climate change was because there was no policy to guide you. Therefore I believe this policy will assist and keep us from losing our lives because we have already lost lives due to lack of knowledge.

I support your submission so that you can be able to serve Batswana all that they need but with more focus on what I have said earlier on. Some Members of Parliament are of the view that spending time on debates is not profitable. Maybe this is because they have realised that of the proposals they make are disregarded but accordingly, these suggestions that are coming from this House should highly be considered. So in the next Committee of Supply report you should come with an enhanced report from the comments made by Members of Parliament. This is what I request you to do Honourable Member in future, but not only you, even other Ministers who bring Committee of Supply reports in Parliament. They must make it a point that the comments coming from members going forward

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are taken into consideration because they can make a difference. This will avoid comments from Honourable Members across the aisle disregarding our procedures. I thank you.

MR GAOLATHE (GABORONE BONNINGTON SOUTH): Thank you, Madam Chairperson for this opportunity. Thank you Honourable Minister for your presentation. It has to be said that no one can impugn on your love and passion for the wildlife. In my submission I wish to both acknowledge some of the work that your Ministry has done but at the same time, I hope to provide or advance alternatives or suggestions on how to do some of your work better.

Botswana has always seen itself as a country whose approach to tourism is one that focuses on high and prestige ecotourism. This approach is probably not optimal for Botswana. It is probably an approach that certainly has to be taken in certain parts of the country particularly in the Okavango; that is where that type of approach is most relevant. But in other parts of the country, I think it is high time that Botswana considers other types of approach to tourism that takes into account a higher volume and a larger amount of Batswana participating in this sector. That is strategy at a higher level.

I am aware as you have indicated in your report that your ministry is working on a policy. I would hope that one of the things that your policy or some of the things that your policy would want to look at is specifically how big you want your tourism to be. How many tourists you hope to attract into this country. How many jobs you think are feasible and specifically what type of tourists you are looking at. You have to be in a position to say we are only interested in tourists coming out of Europe and Japan, we do not want tourists from these other parts of the world. I hope your policy would be very specific. This is very important and this is what other countries that have been successful in tourism, have been doing.

Looking at your strategy for the management of wildlife and general management of forestry and other forest resources, yes, one of the things you want to look at is sustainability. My feeling is that the current strategy is not sustainable. It may not be intentional but it is not sustainable. It is not sustainable because the number of elephants that we are allowing in this country whatever the population is whether it is 170 000, whatever it is, we have so many elephants which are putting our whole habitat in danger. In fact, we have already lost tens of thousands of certain plant species without which animals like the antelopes will not be able to survive in this country. So you will find that one of the reasons

why we will lose many of these animals is actually not because of poaching. It is because of the plant species that we are losing as a country, as a result of this elephant over population.

I think we also need to have a specific strategy around how we want to manage other resources such as the fish sector. I think it is possible to have a comprehensive strategy where as a ministry, you want to be able to say, we want to build this type of skills, this type of quantum, we want to be very strong in these parts of the value chain. This is possible and it can be done and there are many benchmarks around the world.

Indeed I have indicated that your ministry is doing some good work, some of which has caught my eye. An example is the refurbishment of some of these historic buildings and the construction of gate houses at a number of these very scenic and historic places. That is something that is very good and must be encouraged. However, I think you need to revise the strategy and the way in which you do that.

In other countries what they would do is to actually establish a trust, a big trust which would have the advantage of an autonomous entity which focuses on a specific mandate to identify these sites to go into smart partnerships with the potential specialists in these areas. Find ways for these facilities to generate revenues not necessarily to make a lot of money or to make money but in a way that they are sustainable, in a way that they are able to reinvest and to refurbish and do what I think your ministry is trying to do but does not have resources to do it. In fact, you will never have enough resources to do what I believe you want to do.

When you look at communities around Botswana, I acknowledge the work that your ministry is doing in terms of initiatives to plant trees. This responsibility also has to be given to communities. Communities have to be able to decide themselves that they want to make their spaces greener, they want to plant trees but they will also have to be given the responsibility themselves to establish trusts, trusts which they as communities, contribute to in different ways in kind and financially and those that are able to demonstrate that they are pursuing this mandate in an efficient way, in a way that is good for the country, then you meet them half way. I think that type of involvement of communities is probably the route that you want to take.

I no longer know who is really responsible whether your ministry or the Ministry Of Water Affairs for sewage. This is a time bomb and I think I am saying this for the second time and for the second time you are shaking your head in agreement. Whatever the role of

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your ministry in this is, I think the point here is that the country is under investing in this area. And whatever the role is, I believe that you have to use whatever your role is to ensure that this country invests adequately in sewerage, particularly in low income areas.

I have always said that we have a fragmented way of Governments’ involvement in the financing of businesses. Financing I mean institutions such as the Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) and Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA). I believe that we should have a system of business funds that invest in feasible business ideas and a sub-sector of those business ideas that are eco-friendly, businesses in solar, businesses that add to our sustainable or our idea of establishing businesses that encourage sustainability. I believe your ministry has to inspire a fund that would help in investing in business projects that are eco-friendly.

Finally, I think that there has to be a very systematic and organised way of training Community Based National Resources Management (CBNRM) participates.

MINISTER OF HEALTH (MS MAKGATO): Thank you very much Madam Chairperson, for giving me this opportunity to stand first of all to support my honourable colleague. He is Kgosi in my constituency. I support his budget request. I have a number of areas that I want to congratulate him on. Some which perhaps when I was Minister of Trade and Industry we were forever fighting about. I think the strategic approach that he is taking to EIAs where he is pushing the agenda of using this instrument to facilitate but not frustrate, we see that there is a number of developments, as a result of his fast tracking of this EIAs and looking at further ways of insuring that they do facilitate in the quickest possible manner. I think you deserve to be congratulated. I am sure you will continue to review them as time goes on, but so far what you have achieved one has to appreciate that.

I also want to appreciate and congratulate you on your efforts to try and sell Botswana in terms of what it is worth. The strategic partnerships such as the International Tourism Bourse (ITB), I think it is a good one. More often than not, we take these things for granted, but I know how difficult it is to negotiate, be in a position to be rated, to be worthy of being a partner. The relationship that we have with national geographic and so forth, I think it is commendable, there is quite a number that you have articulated in your submission. I see that there is a lot of diversification in terms of your product offering. I wish we could speed it up. I do appreciate that sometimes it is budgetary constraints,

but I think we have to spread that which is available in Botswana. You will be one of the ministries that can actually assist and facilitate the diversification of our economy.

What is also appealing to me on this subject matter, is the fact that some of your product offering would be in the rural areas, such as mine which is Sefhare-Ramokgonami. What you would do will largely affect the women that are doing little businesses. That is why I find it very enticing to say we at Sefhare-Ramokgonami we are ready and willing. We would like you to consider some product of some form that you can bring to our constituency. I am sure if you know that area very well, we are known for the water springs and hills that are there. I invite you to investigate within my constituency, to look at Borotsi, Chadibe, Sefhare, Ramokgonami, and Tumasera-Seleka. Around there I am sure that there is something that you can get and utilise to further diversify the product offering that you have.

You have a challenge Minister, one of your greatest challenges is human and animal conflict. I do not know what you are going to do in the future, but it is an area that needs some creative ways of confronting it head on. I know that you have got a number of initiatives that we are trying. Here I am talking with particular reference to the elephants. We were so shocked in my constituency to discover elephants at Maape and also Ngwapa. My constituents set dogs on them because they did not even know how you deal with them. At least there were better than an alleged man somewhere around Radisele area, who was taking his children to school and on his way he sees these elephants. He ran away for his dear life, got home and the wife says, “Where are the kids”, and he said. “I do not know, my wife”. The wife had to run and look for these children from where elephants were and only to find out that kids had managed to make their way to school. So investigate us, I think we have potential in my constituency.

I also want you to be strict, I know my constituents would probably shout at me when I get back. We have a beautiful village called Mathako. It is well renowned for the marula trees that are there, to an extent that…

HONOURABLE MEMBER: … (Inaudible)…

MS MAKGATO: Morula trees, yes, I am now used to Amarula.

HONOURABLE MEMBERS: … (Murmurs)...

MS MAKGATO: I would like to withdraw that statement. You know if you go to that place during spring time and you see you can actually get a feeling that,

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you know when you do Cape Town to Port Elizabeth route, where the trees cover the road, it is absolutely awesome and it is just green. What is concerning me is that they just cut them for no apparent reason, we are just chopping them left, right and centre. I think our ability to relate that this relates to global warming and to the aesthetics and all those other things, we have absolutely no relation. Most importantly, we have been one of those constituencies together with that of Honourable Maele who had been able to make money out of morula trees. Where women go to gather this morula tree, then we are able to squeeze oil out of it and do little and there are little companies that are there. This is where I want to help, because the people that are in the cities have realised that we have got this resource. They come there with a bucket and they will pay our people very insignificants amounts. I know that I do not like informal businesses to be formalised, but on this one just like mophane worm, some people may come from cities and come to collect from these people with a minimal pay. Buckets of these will be sold for a little as P8 or something like that, some ridiculous offerings. I would just want you to look at that.

HONOURABLE MEMBER: … (Inaudible)…

MS MAKGATO: Yes I am talking about morula and talk about morula nuts for these nuts we use to make these beautiful oils which have a potential. I asked your protection with mophane worm, I know that this year we have not had much, but it is a significant resource in my constituency. Please protect us, try and facilitate ease of export between us and the South African. Sometimes we do it right and then the others are not doing the same as we do. Please encourage your staff to go on intensive education and awareness of how to export mophane worm out of our area across the border. Sometimes we end up having little hiccups here and there, which we cannot deal with.

I think the only other issue that I had with your ministry was to try and facilitate where you can. I know that recently you have got a new programme where you are looking at creative ways of doing Agro Tourism. I think we have potential to be considered for Agro Tourism. The youth from my constituency are very much interested in that, I think it is an area again if I invite you to my constituency, I would like your team to be able to educate upon. I get a lot of enquiries and I do no not have the relevant answers of how to promote it. I would like to promote it because I see potential of that in my own constituency. We had an issue with your ministry last year, but I just want to mention it because it is with reference to the area that we have designated around Pilikwe area, for us to be able to put all the hazardous waste.

We have engaged intensely with the Minister of Infrastructure, Science and Technology, I just want to bring your on board as well. I think it would be something that will be amicably resolved. Would it not be nice to do that and then bring another product offering to balance it with that? I am sure my constituents would be very happy. Thank you very much Madam Chairperson.

MR MOLATLHEGI (GABORONE SOUTH): Thank you Madam Chairperson. I want to say that the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism can do better than what it is doing already. I am aware of the fact that the personnel in that ministry have been trained to do the work and they know it. I therefore believe that if they could put in some efforts in their work, they can be profitable in their work. They are not the only ministry which can do better, the other problem is that Cabinet does not work well as well. This is one of the ministries which we could be using to curb poverty and it could partner with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development in poverty eradication measures. We have poverty eradication measures but then we look at the way poverty goes, it is rooted in areas which are rich in game, areas such as Okavango, Ngamiland and Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR). We have a community- based Natural Resources Management (CBNRM) programme which we could be using to the maximum to eradicate poverty.

I wonder how we came about to ban fishing instead of using Honourable Tsogwane`s ministry to teach people to keep fish. There is an option of fish farming, and monitoring this sector than banning fishing altogether. After this ban, most of them were stolen, more than P30 million has been exported through illegal fishing. Why can we not instead encourage game farming than to ban fishing?

The income that the government has been getting from hunting licenses is a lot of money. Actually what we have done is that we have taken this money and put into the coffers of farm owners who have animals in their farms. Why can we not ask Honourable Tsogwane`s ministry to help these Community Based Natural Resource Management Committees to have farms and keep game? I fail to understand why. That is why I am saying this ministry can still do more than it is doing at the moment.

Madam Chairperson, in countries that I usually visit, I found an elephant orphanage in Kenya. Young elephants whose mothers have been killed by poachers are kept there. They are given milk and food. When they are grown up, they are sent back to the wilderness to live on their own. Taking care of them attracts a lot of tourism. People pay to go and see them being fed and when they are treated. Why can we not do the same in our country?

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Madam Chairperson, I am worried that we have wealth in our country and we cannot put them to good use. However, I know that there are people are trained for this job which I believe they should do with their all. I therefore implore you to do everything you can to do these things to redeem people from poverty.

At the moment, we have the Human wildlife conflict in these areas and we have been encouraging people to plough through Honourable Ralotsia`s ministry. We have given him funds to plough yet we know that elephants are going to destroy their crops. How have you helped him to ensure that elephants do not destroy his crops? We can do better as government. Let us be serious and do our job. I doubt we are working seriously.

The other thing that I think is not done according to the laws of Botswana is the land allocations of tourism. I do not think they should be done by the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism. If I recall well, the law dictates that land should be allocated by the land board. But if the Minister has taken a decision in his ministry to deal with allocations of tourism, is he not supposed to do that through a subsidiary legislation? He should bring a Statutory Instrument to Parliament so that we can ask him how he reached the conclusion. What I do not understand right now is why this is the case and if indeed the law command thus, why is it not followed? This should be done properly.

HONOURABLE MEMBER: Clarification.

MR MOLATLHEGI: No.

HONOURABLE MEMBER: Just a small one.

MR MOLATLHEGI: No, I said no clarification. I want the Statutory Instrument to be brought to Parliament so that we can come and ask the Minister of Lands and Housing why this is the case and for us to understand and be able to explain to other people who may ask us because there is going to be chaos regarding this land. Honourable Moremi recently talked about this and I know that there are issues arising in his constituency. Honourable Kwerepe has the same problems. Let us solve these issues and let everything be done accordingly.

Lastly Madam Speaker is the National Climate Change Policy. During the 10th Parliament, I promised that before I go and thrash the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) in the past elections, the Climate Change Policy would be in this House but until now, it is not here. It is being postponed.

HONOURABLE MEMBER: Inaudible.

MR MOLATLHEGI: If anything, I would follow

Honourable Tshekedi day and night than to vote for the UDC. What does the UDC know? What do you think you can do? You cannot do or know anything. I would rather pester the person I know of their capability than you. With you it is like running away and throwing myself into a pit.

HONOURABLE MEMBERS: Inaudible.

MR MOLATLHEGI: No, you are provoking me. Lastly, I want to encourage the Cabinet that they can accomplish these initiatives only when they work together. Poverty eradication, we could be at 95 per cent accomplishment.

DR MMATLI: On a point of order. Thank you Madam Chairperson. I think Honourable Molatlhegi is out of order, someone sought clarification and he denied it saying he does not have time. Thereafter, the attacks the UDC and not focus on what he is talking about. He is out of order.

MADAM CHAIRPERSON: You are out of order Honourable Mmatli.

MR MOLATLHEGI: Thank you Madam Chairperson. I did not intend to attack the UDC, but they provoked me despite knowing that when someone does that to me, I am very strong when I hit back.

Lastly Madam Chairperson, you talked about the Intended National Determined Contributions (INDCSs) for mitigation and impact of climate change. I do not know if you have ever come across those so that we can look at them and see if they correspond with what we should do. I believe these things should be articulated and taught Batswana so that we own them as Batswana. They should not just be written on paper while we never see them. I conclude thus Madam Chairperson.

MR MZWINILA (MMADINARE): Thank you Honourable Chairperson. Let me first of all start by showing my full support for the Honourable Minister. I think he is doing a really splendid job in his Ministry. The people of Mmadinare appreciate his effort in terms of assisting us.

The first issue I would like to talk about is BCL Mine and Sulphur dioxide. I think we need your assistance Honourable Minister in terms of this issue. It has been around for three decades and BCL continues unashamedly to pollute Mmadinare. I do not know going forward what should be done because we as a community have talked about it and I as a Member of Parliament and even in your report Honourable Minister you have also mentioned that you have advised BCL in terms of ensuring that they stop polluting the

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environment. I think going forward maybe the position needs to be changed a bit, that now BCL should be instructed to do something in terms of making sure that they stop polluting the environment. To stop polluting the environment is around P10 million, that is all required to fix that smelter and the smoke stack and they are asking Government to guarantee P1 billion. So, I think that going forth Honourable Minister, may be a condition for any Government assistance or any money from Government or any Government guarantee to Bamangwato Concessions Limited (BCL), there should be a condition that they must commit, that they are going to stop polluting the environment. I think this would help a long way in terms of ensuring that BCL stops polluting the environment.

I think that you should also ask BCL to make sure that they have a corporate social investment in Mmadinare Constituency, because it is not a luxury for them to corporate or socially invest in the Constituency simply because they are polluting the environment. And basically you should invest where you pollute. I think a simple principle is that where they pollute, they must invest. And I think that may be going forward, if Government is to assist or bail out BCL in any manner or form, there should be an element of asking them or directing them that they must invest especially in the health of Mmadinare constituency. I always hear the argument that we need to safeguard the jobs of the 6000 or 5000 employees of BCL, but nobody ever thinks about the 40 000 constituents of Mmadinare constituency who are affected by the pollution that is caused by the mine. Nobody ever talks about the 15 000 people in Mmadinare village who for 30 years have had to endure the smoking pollution from BCL mine. And I think that going forward, this is the opportune time when they need money from Government, when they need some sort of guarantee from Government, this is the opportune time to now direct them Honourable Minister that they must do something about their pollution, and they must invest where they have polluted over the past 3 decades.

The other issue Honourable Minister is in terms of the dam’s tourism master plans that you mentioned. I understand that these tourism development plots will be advertised. My thinking is that they should be advertised, but some of them should be reserved for the people of Mmadinare constituency for a simple reason; let us take Dikgatlhong Dam, the establishment of Dikgatlhong Dam required the movement of the whole settlement, not just a house or a yard or some houses; an entire settlement in my constituency had to be moved in order to pave way for the dam including graves and the grave sites. Those who had to move,

those whose ancestors or the remains of their ancestors had to be moved to pave way for this dam that is now supplying the Southern part of Botswana, I think they should be affirmatively assisted with tourism plots for the reason that they had to sacrifice by the movement of their settlements, the movement of the graveyards or gravesites in order to make way for the dams. And I think that is where affirmative action is required because the people had to sacrifice their land, they had to sacrifice even their graveyards and their gravesites and move their ancestors; and it is quite sensitive in our culture to move the remains of ancestors. And for this, we feel that we should not be competing with people who did not do that sacrifice of having to move an entire settlement, and having to move even the remains of ancestors who were supposed to be in eternal peace.

The other issue Honourable Minister is that we have a problem; my constituency is one of the areas affected by elephant in the country. I think going forward, in terms of elephant population increasing, Honourable Minister, you may have to look at this issue about the human-elephant confrontation or co-existence because we are having serious problems in terms of how we deal and how we live with elephants.

It has now started to rain; we know that the elephants are coming, because when the streams fill up, the rivers fill up in my constituency, the elephants come. They cross the border and we know that we are going to be submitting a lot of claims to your Ministry about damage which these elephants are going to cause. I once asked that may be instead of saying you are going to remove the hunting material, maybe you should allow community based organisations, community based natural resource organisations to make some sort of living from the elephants, to have controlled hunting, not just for everybody but for community based organisations in order for them to make some sort of a living or some sort of a living allowance for the community from their sale of elephants or rights to hunt elephants. because I think that going forward, it is an issue that we may have to look at in a bit more detail.

In terms of fishing also Honourable Minister, fishing in the dams; Letsibogo Dam and also Dikgatlhong Dam, we have a fish hatchery in Letsibogo dam, and that fish hatchery is only one of the skills in the country, but going forward, I would appreciate if efforts could be made to turn that in to a community based organisation or cooperative in order to create employment. I think there is a golden opportunity in that particular project of the fish hatchery.

You can expand the fish hatchery in to a fish farm, and by so doing it would create employment creation in that

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particular project. I think that going forward, we would appreciate such efforts.

In terms of fishing, at Letsibogo dam, what we admire about the officers is that they promote the issue of catch and release; instead of catching fish and then eating them or whatever the case may be, I think this type of ecotourism, of catching and releasing especially the bass fish because at Letsibogo dam you find the specific species of bass fish, that is one of the biggest in the African continent. I think if these issues can be promoted internationally or nationally, we can make a lot of money out of the fact that Letsibogo dam has one of the biggest species of bass fish found in the world. People come from Germany just to catch and release such type of fish and that is indigenous to the dam.

Another issue I would like to talk about in terms of how we can promote tourism in the constituency or nationally, is the issue you mentioned about tourism officers in the embassies or tourism attachés. I think that one of the issues about tourism is the marketing. Would support you Honourable Minister if you could expand your Ministry to have an international reach, and be present in all of our embassies across the globe.

The other issue I would like to talk about is the anti-poaching units. I think your Anti-poaching units are doing a sterling job, and I agree with policy of zero tolerance for poachers and for poaching. But I think that they are in danger if we do not adequately equip them. I think that it is very important that they have the proper type of equipment, proper type of resources because they are going against dangerous poachers. And in this regard, I would support the issue that you mentioned that they should be properly equipped and even have helicopters to assist them in terms of the anti-poaching duties that they perform. I think that even more resources are required because those ones are directly in the line of fire. And on a daily basis, they are the ones who ensure that our wild animals and our wildlife are protected. And I think that going forward to enhance the security; it would also be to enhance the efficiency and their numbers also.

I read that some of the camps are not going to be opened, and I think that it is important that we realise that with security coming at costs, we cannot expect our children and our brothers and our sisters to go in to harm’s way but not adequately equip the. I thank you.

MR GUMA (TATI EAST): Madam Chairperson, let me thank you very much, I have waited patiently to be given this opportunity. Honourable Minister, let me stand to support your proposals and your requests.

On the onset, let me say I see your Ministry being amongst the top five performing Ministries, the first one…

HONOURABLE MEMBERS: … (Laughing) …

MR GUMA: I am not taking away any other; please let me be understood, because sometimes you have to say these things for the public knowledge. I see the Ministry of Minerals at the top, and then I see Health, yourself, Lands and Housing; you are trying your best. The others are doing their best but these are the top five where I see a lot of effort. You know, you can see something is happening. Keep that up. We must tell you here and now so that the public then appreciates the good work.

On that note again, where do we get this? We get this from the Public Accounts Committee. The manner in which your officers make presentations, they answer questions, they relate to issues, you can then say oh! At least here you can see some elements of collectiveness and leadership. That is where we get it from. It is not that we see issues from the streets and then come and make comments here. We can just see it factually, the manner in which they present the issues.

Then having said that, there are many challenges that you face. They will always be there. Where I come from Honourable Minister, the biggest challenge we are facing is how to co-exist with animals, then fight Foot and Mouth and assist people again to complement government efforts by ploughing, on the agricultural side. Like the Honourable Member just said, at the Dikgatlhong area, when we built that dam, there is something that we overlooked, and that is the movements of elephants. The elephants have always existed with people in that area but it was always a seasonal issue. They will come in and go and they will not really disturb people that much. But now we are faced with this Foot and Mouth issue and they move especially from the Zimbabwean side. I think they are in search of water. As the people around that area, we are ploughing, but we cannot plough anymore because they just come in and destroy all the crops.

I think what we need to do there Honourable Minister is that we have to consult the community. I do not think the answer is getting in there and getting rid of all the elephants. I think we need to find ways in which we can co-exist with them, more especially that they are close to an area which we have designated as a tourist area, the Dikgatlhong dam. The dam stretches into a big area, three quarters of it is in our area in the North East, in my constituency. You know, Mmadinare likes to claim this dam and you must stop it.

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HONOURABLE MEMBERS: … (Laughter)…

MR GUMA: Sorry sir.

MR MZWINILA: On a point of correction Madam Chairperson. Thank you Honourable Chairperson. Dikgatlhong dam is in the Mmadinare Constituency.

MR GUMA: Correction again. The Dikgatlhong dam, three quarters of it is in the North East, in my constituency. There is nothing you can do about that Honourable Member.

MADAM CHAIRPERSON: You will fight outside Parliament about that. Continue.

MR GUMA: Anyway, having said that, the potential for tourism in that area is huge. I just want to invite you again Minister to visit that area. Just take an aircraft, fly over it and see the beauty of it right now. For the record, I think the dam is getting 100 per cent full now with the current rains. I do not know about Letsibogo. But we are pleading with you to at least just visit that area. Let us interact with the members of the community and see what we can do in terms of- I do not believe that we should kill those animals. I think we should find the way in which we can manage that. I just wanted to commend you for a job that you are doing well. But also to request you to go there, let us talk to people and come up with an answer. Thank you very much.

EXCHANGE OF SPEAKERSHIP

MR NKAIGWA (GABORONE NORTH): Thank you Mr Chairman for affording me this opportunity to also deliberate on this important Ministry which I believe one day such a Ministry if it was under the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) Government, it will be a very, very important Ministry for the economic diversification of our country. I want to believe that for the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) Government, their priority is more into tourism as opposed to other aspects of this Ministry. I also want to believe that for the UDC Government, we shall take matters of the environment with a lot of seriousness because one of the challenges that we have in this country of unemployment can be addressed through the environment. There is a lot that we still need to do as a country in terms of addressing our environmental issues.

I will mention just a few. If you look at the challenges that we have in regard to waste in our cities and villages…

MR MOSWAANE: Point of order Mr Chairperson. I want to clarify that we do not have the UDC Government. So, this needs to stop for now. They must accept that we are ruling. Thank you.

MR CHAIRPERSON (MR MOLATLHEGI): no, he was just saying, “If it was the UDC Government.” He was just pointing out his desires hence ‘if it was’, so, he is not out of order.

MR NKAIGWA: I do not know why the Honourable Member is wasting my time. I think you will rather go and help people in Tlokweng with the flooding that is currently challenging them. I know maybe he does not have a place to sleep because they have been affected by floods.

Mr Chairperson, I believe that as a country, we should focus on investing into waste industries, reuse and the recycling of waste that we produce. We should be having our households or our communities also benefitting out of the waste that they produce from their households. I believe that there are companies and investors out there who are willing to come into our country and also here in our own country who are willing to utilise the current waste that we produce, more especially in the City of Gaborone. Waste is a form of energy, waste like the Honourable Members have already mentioned, can produce energy in the form of electricity and I believe that this has not been expanded by the BDP Government. That is why I was saying if it was my government, we could have made utilisation of the current waste that we are producing as a nation. To us it is not all about waste but it is all about the value and the revenue that can be created out of this waste, in terms of creating jobs for our own young Batswana who continue to be unemployed, Honourable Moswaane.

Government introduced the plastic levy, but we are yet to benefit as a nation from the plastic levy. Honourable Minister, it is high time that we fast-track a process or a system that we can use as government to collect this levy. We are losing a lot as households, as communities, by continuing to pay for plastics in various retailers whilst government does not benefit out of the levy that we continue to be levied by the various retailers. For me, I believe something needs to be done Honourable Minister.

Also our waste Honourable Minister; we are losing a lot of waste to South Africa which I believe that if indeed there was more focus given to...

MR MOSWAANE: Point of order. I feel that I need to explain that my Uncle who stays in Tlokweng has lost his wife and I think this is the suspect.

HONOURABLE MEMBERS: ...(Laughter!)...

MR CHAIRPERSON: Order!

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MR MOSWAANE: My uncle lost because of a Councillor who stays in Tlokweng...

MR CHAIRPERSON: Order! Honourable Moswaane!


MR MOSWAANE: My uncle lost his wife because of a Councillor who stays in Tlokweng; she left him in December...


MR MOSWAANE: I think Honourable Nkaigwa must be answerable. He becomes very angry when I go to check on my uncle...


MR CHAIRPERSON: Order! Order! Honourable Moswaane, stand up and withdraw your words!

MR MOSWAANE: No, when it comes to Honourable Nkaigwa I would rather go to jail. This man is ruining my uncle’s marriage.



MR MOSWAANE: He really becomes offended when I go to check on my uncle who lost the wife to his Councillor.

MR CHAIRPERSON: Order! Honourable Moswaane, I said you should withdraw all those words!

MR MOSWAANE: I should withdraw them and direct them to whom? It is alright then I will leave them with Honourable Nkaigwa, I withdraw them.

MR CHAIRPERSON: Honourable Moswaane, I said that you should stand and withdraw those words. I do not want it to come with conditions. You should also apologise to Honourable Nkaigwa.

MR MOSWAANE: He heard me. I said that I withdraw. He understood me today and he should never repeat what he usually does!


MR CHAIRPERSON: Order! Honourable Moswaane...

MR MOSWAANE: Yes Sir.

MR CHAIRPERSON: Please desist from doing that and it is not the first time you and Honourable Nkaigwa have done this. You have a tendency of saying things that are out of line in this House and this is the last time

I am saying this to you. This is not a freedom square where you say things like that to one another. You are both Pastors and so desist from such behaviour. I no longer want to hear anything about that Tlokweng issue being mentioned here. Order!

MR SALAKAE: Point of order. Thank you Mr Chairperson. You just made a ruling that the Honourable Member of Parliament must apologise, but he has not done that. I am still to hear you ordering him to apologise.

MR CHAIRPERSON: Order! I concluded that issue.

MR NKAIGWA: Thank you Mr Chairperson. I will ignore everything from the enemy. Honourable Minister, I am trying to contribute positively towards your Ministry, unfortunately there is an element of darkness behind you. But anyway, I will repel it with the light that will be coming from this side. I believe Honourable Minister...

MINISTER OF HEALTH (MS MAKGATO): Point of order. Thank you very much Mr Chairperson. Hey! I am concerned Mr Chairperson because this Parliament is attended by Honourable people. The nation is listening to us and they know that we discuss important issues. This ridiculing of one another which is continuous regarding this topic of Tlokweng and continuously irritating each other is a daily thing. At which point Mr Chairperson is it going to stop? I do not necessarily believe that because you admonished them about it today and the other apologised then it is going to stop.

Is it provided for? I suggest that you call these gentlemen and sort it out. Students are here to witness what is happening in Parliament and they hear such talk. It concerns me, it is worrisome, and it is affecting the integrity of this House.

MR CHAIRPERSON: Order! Honourable Makgato, I have closed that issue. I have even told them that I no longer want to hear those words in this House. Let it go so that we continue.

MR NKAIGWA: Thank you Mr Chairperson. Honourable Minister, your government and your Ministry invested over P1, 4 billion into the Gaborone Integrated Sewer Network which is currently being underutilised. I want to plead to you that let us see to it that we come up with a special fund that can actually assist residents of Gaborone to connect to the sewer network.

If you look at the population of Gaborone, almost 20 per cent of the total population of Gaborone Self Help Housing Agency (SHHA) population have managed to

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connect to it. About 80 per cent of our residents are yet to connect. I think the reason government invested so massively into the Gaborone Integrated Sewer Project, to address the underground pollution from the pit latrines that we continue to use as residents of Gaborone. I trust Honourable Minister that a solution shall be found to the challenge that we are currently finding ourselves in as residents of Gaborone. As for my own residents in my constituency, there is a cry Honourable Minister, we are not living well. My residents in Marang, Tsholofelo East, Ledumang and Phakalane are challenged by the smell that comes from the Gaborone Treatment Plant. I do not believe that the smell is good for any resident or to any Motswana.

I believe that this is an environmental challenge that needs to be addressed and we need to address it immediately so that our residents will live in a decent environment. You cannot even invite a person to your house because by inviting a person your house, you will be challenged by the smell that comes from the Gaborone Treatment Plant. Imagine Phakalane, our own suburbs of Gaborone being challenged by this bad smell that comes from the treatment plant. I also want to challenge you Honourable Minister, let us do something to try and address the bad odour or smell that comes from the treatment plant.

Again Honourable Minister, I want to believe that tourism should not only happen in the Maun or Chobe areas, even in Gaborone I believe we ca have urban tourism here. I believe that one of the precious items that we have as a nation or one commodity that we pride of as a nation is diamond. During my time as the Mayor of Gaborone, I had a vision or an agenda of trying to turn Gaborone into a diamond city. I believe that there is a need for us to develop a diamond museum in the city of Gaborone.

HONOURABLE MEMBERS: …(Murmurs)…

MR NKAIGWA: It is not wrong, it is not wrong. Many Batswana do not even know a diamond, but they are living in a diamond country and it is not wrong for us as a nation to construct and build a diamond museum in Gaborone and it is not wrong for developments in this country to take the shape of a diamond form because we are a diamond nation. I believe that in order for us to attract urban tourism into the city of Gaborone, yes indeed we need to develop a diamond museum in the city of Gaborone. That will also create the many jobs that we are longing for, that will also create more and more revenue for Government in terms of the urban tourism that will be attracted to the city of Gaborone. Not only foreign tourism but even local tourism, I know

even some Members of Parliament here have never seen a diamond by our own eyes. We would love to have a diamond museum in the city of Gaborone.

One of things that I am also proposing Honourable Minister is that I want to believe that the fines that are given to people who are mining sand illegally are very, very low. Let us review those fines. I think we need more punitive fines than the current fines that we have. People are mining sand illegally in places like Mahalapye and Thamaga. People continue to mine sand illegally knowing that the fines are very, very small Honourable Minister. So I want to believe and I trust that indeed you will be able to address this holistically.

With regard to urban tourism, let us look at the Segoditshane River. I believe that there are good things about the Segoditshane river; the river can be developed into a tourism attraction place. There can be hotels that can be developed along the Segoditshane River. It can be filled with water, it can also be developed so that the fauna that is within it, can actually also attract local tourism into the city of Gaborone.

Having said that Honourable Minister, try and talk to the Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources that we make utilisation of water from the Gaborone sewer plant coming back into the city so that we can develop Gaborone into a greener city. Cities are currently developing agendas of trying to develop green site cities. I believe that we can also have water from the integrated sewer plant coming back into the city for communities to plant trees and for those trees to always be green or to have a city that is evergreen. I thank you Mr Chairperson.

MR SALAKAE: On a point of Order! Hey, it is very cold. I am not sure if that side is also cold. I previously requested that the temperature should be increased a bit, I am freezing this side.

MR CHAIRPERSON: Yes, those who can reduce the cold have heard you; they will make it comfortable enough.

MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS (MR MABEO): Thank you Mr Chairperson. Let me start by saying I rise to support the budget proposals of the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism. Let me maybe point out that this Ministry Honourable Members, when we allocate the budget, we have to look at it closely because right we have a challenge because our diamonds are not being bought. Now for us to have revenue, the tourism sector is where we can turn to.

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HONOURABLE MEMBER: Clarification.

MR MABEO: What clarification do you want to make because I am just starting my debate. Whilst on that point Honourable Members, I was still reiterating that when we look at that Ministry, let us remember that there is an infrastructure which they need for them to do their job effectively. I am particularly looking at the airports which are mostly used by tourists when they come into this country. I am talking in cognisance of the roads and communications because when a tourist is in Botswana, even when they are in the wild out there, they still need to communicate with their relatives wherever they are. That is why I was saying when it comes to budget allocations, maybe we should closely look at this Ministry; I am particularly stressing this point that are you really aware of the fact that tourism alone brings a significant amount of revenue to the economy of Botswana.

Let me hasten to thank the Minister for the fact that I can see Batswana now taking part in large numbers in the tourism business. Honourable Members, as Batswana we should be found leading in the tourism sector business because at the end of the day the revenue which we would have created would be used in our country. I am encouraging that because in the end we will see our youth being employed in these businesses of ours, especially the tourism sector; working in hotels and so forth, as young people. Let me also say you would find them looking ever so beautiful and presentable so that we would be stimulated and inspired to visit these places. I am not supposed to omit that one.

I would like to stress this point that this Ministry is making progress Honourable Members, ensuring that they are there everywhere in our country. I remember very well when I was speaking in my constituency, there is a place somewhere at Livingstone Kolobeng there; they are making developments that side. Let me commend you for that Honourable Minister. What I can also say is that keep sending your officers to this constituency of Thamaga-Kumakwane. There are many places we could benefit from with regard to tourism.

Some of those places are on the Gakgatla side. There is a dam which we have long requested that it should be used as a tourist attraction. Be swift to consider that dam Honourable Minister.

It is not the only one, we also have places where water is disposed of at the bottom of the hills as you are going to Kanye; these ponds can be part of tourism and the residents of the nearby villages can benefit from the dividends yielded from this tourism hence developments can come to them.

The other thing that I wanted to talk about Honourable Minister is this huge project that I have to thank you for as well, the one in Kazungula; Kasane-Kazungula Development Project. It is one of the projects which I believe will bring a lot of tourists to our country, and also ensure that Batswana get jobs.

The other thing that I wanted to talk about is that I can see you are paying close attention to most of the dams. Although we know that most of the time when we build a dam we do so for water purposes, holding water to drink; it would also be very good if you could also ensure that you are involved in dams, ensuring that they play a role in tourism.

The other thing that I have to thank you for is the tourism attraction activity like the Mantshwabisi (Toyota Kalahari 1000 kilometres Desert Race) which for a while was based at Kumakwane. I am saying this as a testimony because it was happening at a constituency I am representing. Although you have taken it to different constituencies, but what we harvested or reaped from it Honourable Minister is there and we can show it. When it came to our area we would have many visitors there. We would have tuck-shops, sell goods and be happy. In the end we managed to make a living. Therefore let me say keep it up Honourable Minister, and see how you can extend these activities which assist in terms of spreading tourism across our whole country.

Earlier on I said we should ensure that we are relentless in ensuring that ICT and transport assist this Ministry. I will give you an example Honourable Members, in the aviation industry; we have to see to it that Air Botswana becomes more advanced, that they get an appropriate budget because for tourists to come to Botswana, they use aeroplanes. One other thing that I would like commend you for is the partnerships that you continue to have with other ministries to assist you to develop tourism. For instance, your Ministry made an elephant sculpture at Sir Seretse Khama. You found it fit to gather all the elephant tusks from dying elephants to come up with that. This is an intent that enhances the outlook of our airport, therefore we ought to thank you for that. Maybe I could encourage you to extend the same effort to all other airports because they are the first place of contact once the tourists land in our country. Even those who do adverts should probably focus on tourism so that we can be able to sell our tourism in places like airports.

Lastly, there is one aspect that you mentioned in your speech that some of us do not how conserve our lands and gave an example using my department under Roads. I would like to however assure you that we have our experts who ensure that after construction of roads, we

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do not compromise the environment. There might have been some overlaps there and there but we continue to seek the intervention of our experts to ensure that we do not in anyhow hamper with tourism industry. I thank you.

MR MARKUS (MAUN EAST): Thank you Mr Chairperson. I have been trying countless times to get your attention and I am tired now, but at least you recognised me now. I support the submission made by the Ministry so that developments could be made regarding the tourism industry. Let me point out that Maun Constituency is a tourist destination but it has been eveident enough that trusts do not serve any purpose …(interruptions)… I do not know if Honourable Makgatho and Minister are paying attention because I am addressing his Ministry. I was saying that trusts do not serve any purpose in my constituency but they were supposed to help improve the livelihoods of the residents of that area. The functioning of these trusts were incapacitated by the stoppage of hunting. We need your intervention so that we come up with strategies that will help these people.

The residents of Khwae were supposed to be allocated lodges and we fail to understand the purpose of lodges like Tsaro serve because it is in a dilapidated state. There is another one that was called Khwae River lodge…

MINISTER OF HEALTH (MS MAKGATO): Procedure. Thank you Mr Chairperson, it seems like your timing is not the same as ours. We were expecting to conclude by five past if we have calculated correctly, can you kindly verify with your staff.

MR CHAIRPERSON: No trust me, all is in order.

MR MARKUS: I was saying that when lease for Khwae River Lodge expired, it was supposed to be handed back to the ownership of the residents but nothing has happened to date. We do not know what could be the problem of failure to do such, maybe we will need your intervention on that one as well. There is another issue that the residents do not have any other business adventures except for tourism, therefore, I would advise you to allocate them plots so that they venture into that.

The other issue is that of Sankoyo. They have requested to construct a 46 beds in Kaziikini, but nothing has been done to that effect. Even the residents of Shorobe have requested to start a trust which they have been given the green light to start it but there is no progress to date. The residents of Phuduhudu also have nothing on ground, their trust is dead as well, and therefore they need to be helped.

Your wildlife officers who are stationed at the gates work for long hours which are not good at all, they work from 6 in the morning to six in the evening but they do not claim any overtime or off days that they can be given to cover up those long hours. This needs serious attention because these poor people stay in the bush and working conditions are not conducive.

The wild animals continue to destroy the buffalo fence which falls under the Ministry of Agriculture such that they leave it in a deteriorated state. May I implore you to come up with strategies that will deter these animals from destroying the fence and also to keep them away from people. I do not know how you will do that but find ways to keep them away so that they do not cause any harm because they cause so much destruction and we end up pointing the finger at him as we think that he has failed to do the job when in actual fact you are the one who is failing. These animals are just all over and causing destruction. I would like to hear an update from you in the next session informing us on what strategies you have explored to keep them away. Maybe this will also reduce the spread of foot and mouth.

We request that you allow us to have hunting licences for elephants because they are just too many.

HONOURABLE MEMBER: Relocate them to Kanye.

MR MARKUS: If they want them in Kanye, then we shall gladly relocate them to there because we just fed up of the destruction they cause. They destroy our ploughing fields and even go into the houses and the fences. If you can give us their hunting licence you would have helped us a lot.

The other issue is that of compensation money when animals have destroyed our property. We deserve to be given more money as compared to other areas because there are more wild animals in our area. Again we have long talked about the closure of Maun National Park.

MR CHAIRPERSON: Time up, I now call upon the Minister to reply to the debate. Honourable Members take note of something that the wall watch has lost time and it shall be updated soon. Honourable Minister, you have 30 minutes.

MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT, WILDLIFE AND TOURISM (MR T. S. KHAMA): Thank you very much Mr Chairperson. I would like to first of all thank the Honourable Members for the comments on the presentation. I will respond to them as it is normal practice but some of those answers would be covered by comments from other Honourable Members.

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I would like to start with Honourable Member Kwerepe about the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Lake Ngami Trust. Mr Chairperson, we actually had assisted Lake Ngami Trust through Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO) to do a management plan for the use of Lake Ngami. What is important about Lake Ngami is that for all intents and purposes, until we put the banning, the lake was being raped off its fish. Now the issue we had here was that the fish was leaving the country and it was only a selective number of people that were benefiting from that and not necessarily the community around the lake. The management plan is complete. EIA has been considered at this moment in time. We have also engaged the lake community to begin participation within the management of Lake Ngami. So to say that we deny or deprive people a livelihood off the fish is not exactly true because what happened without the regulation was that we were actually exporting fish and denying Batswana the opportunity to buy those fish. Our new regulations are now speaking to that very regulation that we would have to seek permits to export fish so that the community around the lake has the benefit of using the lake and I think that is paramount.

The issue of the land bank and the land board was covered by various Honourable Members. I would just like to explain the issue of the land bank and land boards once and for all. We had various initiatives of why we decided to approach the land bank principle rather than staying with the lands boards. There were various issues which were starting to reflect themselves and one was the case when just after I became a Minister, one concession was sold to a concessionaire who sold it to an American who was not even resident in this country. The trust sanctioned that sale and then there was an issue between the trust and the land board. To this day, that concession is not in the hands of the American. It is not. It is still in the name of the person who had it first. We cannot allow that to happen. Even though Honourable Moremi was talking about grovelling, whatever the word used, I think when it comes to protecting the interest of Batswana in this country if I come and look for funding, Member, I will grovel if I have to, if it is in the interest of Batswana. Maybe one day when you have learned how that works you will appreciate what goes behind it.

I offer no apology for protecting the land that we have. I also offer no apology for making sure that Batswana will as Honourable Goya said, not only participate in tourism but will be competitive too. One of the things that we have done with the Land Bank is, we have now insisted that those concessions can be rezoned, because there are concessions sitting on big land which they are not using. This gives us the opportunity to now rezone those concessions and give them out to Batswana so

that they can play a meaningful role in the most pristine area of Botswana which is the 1000th world heritage site. Why would we not want to do that? If we do not do that it means that the concessionaires sitting on that land will sit on it for thirty years and who will be visitors on that concession? So I am afraid I do not understand the logic of why we would not be able to give land to Batswana for them to also participate in tourism. This will happen under my watch Mr Chairperson.

I will now go onto Honourable Moremi’s comments. Community Based National Resource Management (CBNRM) resolution; Honourable Moremi, I would welcome the opportunity to meet that group that had said they had wanted to meet me and they have not got any response. The truth of the matter is that I have not received that request. But I would not wait for the request, I will go back to them through you and I will ask you to facilitate that meeting. Consider that I am available to do so at a moment’s notice.

As I have said, we are not about taking land from communities. I have explained the position of the land bank.

The other issue that we have is that we want to make sure that the communities get their levy from the concession holders. We negotiate that levy, when the concessionaires start talking about four per cent levy on the turnover, it is unacceptable. We have now escalated that to six per cent and it will go up again in due course but similarly the communities must be seen to be benefiting from that levy in a sustainable way. We have even as the Ministry requested the assistance from the students who have passed through Botswana Accountancy College (BAC) to go and help those communities so that they can manage the programmes and these will make that sustainable and they will then be able to develop programmes within those communities and concessions.

I want to go back to the rezoning. Do you see that the benefit of the rezoning means that we are able to give to more communities? The model that we will use will be geared deliberately to assist communities and those communities that have been marginalised in areas that we want to refer to as WMAs would be considered. It will also give us the opportunity to give to two communities from one concession compared to what is said at the moment which is one community, one concession. So this is a progressive move in a way that we want to empower the communities as a result of tourism.

Mr Chairperson, the land board was consulted. The land board is representative of the tribal leadership, people

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and the communities. If at that stage the land board decided that they did not like the land bank certainly they did not make it known at that time. Even when we consider concessions now, the TEC generally involves the land board…

MR MOREMI: On a point of correction. Just to comment and correct that because I have a matter on my iPad, it just takes long to find it, where the land board writes to the Ministry and informs the Ministry that it would be illegal and to request for advice of the Attorney Generals on such. They were reluctant that they made it in writing and nonetheless it was carried through.

MR T. S. KHAMA: Thank you Honourable Member. The information I have from my representation there Mr Chairperson, was that, it is totally illegal and Minister Maele explained that, the last time this question was brought up in Parliament. If it was not, I am sure that by now we would have heard something different from that. However, it is not for us and it is not our position to keep them out. That is not the intention at all. The intention is so that we can manage the concessions and the leases but we are not taking the land away from in this case Tawana Land Board, Ngwaketse Land Board, Kgatleng Land Board or whatever land board for that matter. It is to make sure that that lease is something that benefits the communities and the country and that we should never lose control of the way that land was intended to be used. It also gives us the right if Government should decide to use that land for the benefit of the communities it is able to do so, if it was in the past that was going to be a challenge. These things can always be our areas in the future where we can discuss and improve. It is the first time and it has nothing to say that it is the last time that these amendments will happen. I believe that I will gladly accept any suggestions that you have which you feel it could further improve what we have done or what we have started on already, taking it on account that it serves the whole country and the communities, which is what we are looking for.

Honourable Moipisi, climate change; yes you are right. We are slow and behind. For the initiatives of our climate change, we have been hamstrung as a Ministry. We did not have the authority over renewable energies, recycling of water and recycling of plastics. We had the voice but not the authority. Since COP 21 Mr Chairperson, I am pleased to say that we have formed a Committee on Climate Change, renewables and recycling at the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism which is chaired by the Deputy Permanent Secretary. We can also bring our standards up to what the rest of the world is doing. We have been behind in renewable energies. In fact we are so far behind, you cannot see us and that is so sad. And the same goes for recycling water. We

are in a country which is in desperate need of water, but we are not using the resource as adequately as we could. Fortunately, we have this Committee which will now talk to those Ministries and stakeholders to say, funding is available in the form of climate fund, adaptation fund, global environmental fund which will give us opportunity to enter into those opportunities and start these processes within the country. We would be submitting our first submission for these funds by the 22nd of April this year.

The hunting ban; Mr Chairperson it is straight forward. We are aware that when we move from consumptive to non-consumptive, there will be a deficiency in certain communities pertaining to the resource of financing. With the tourism development fund, we had mechanism to assist those communities if they could develop a plan or a strategy that they wanted to go with, and we are prepared to assist with that. Unfortunately two or three communities did take it up and a few of the others did not. Unfortunately right now as we speak, Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO) is in the process of instilling a new programme in those concessions so that they can catch up and have a livelihood which they had before. However, I must say one thing; tourism is a lot more sustainable than hunting. When I say tourism, I am referring to non-consumptive tourism because this goes through the twelve months of the year, whereas hunting is April to September. We can therefore produce more for more people, and keep more people employed and sustained for a longer period of time with less impact on the environment.

Anti-Poaching Unit; the Kang issue, I appreciate that unfortunately that sits with Ministry of Infrastructure, Science and Technology (MIST) at the moment because we were not handed the camp and we were not adjudicating the tender. So MIST has advised that there was a challenge and they are busy looking at it.

Wild fire versus fences; I think this is an interesting point. We were given P7 million through the Drought to repair fences. It is impossible. There is no way I could do fences for P7 million. We made the decision to make these fire fighting vehicles so that we could manage fires. And hopefully try to repair fences. That is why when I say the budget is tight, it is tight. We made that decision that it would be better to manage the biomass than to do the fences. We would be hopefully be able to come back for supplementaries on the fences.

The visit to your constituency as I offered to you as I did to Honourable Moremi, please let me know so that we can move that forward as quickly as possible. The tourism office at Hukuntsi is a similar challenge.

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Honourable Goya, animal relocation supplementaries; yes you are on it and we have placed our request with the Economies Committee. We have requested to move game to a place where they will not come into contact with people and I hope that the request will be acceded to.

HONOURABLE MEMBER: It has been passed already

MR T. KHAMA: It has passed?

HONOURABLE MEMBERS: Yes Sir.

MR T. KHAMA: Good news Honourable Member. Thank you. Elephants education is something that we are starting Mr Chairperson to go out and be able to educate people on how to mitigate with the management of elephants. We are challenged. Currently as we speak, taking the eastern part of Botswana and area around Sepako which borders on one game national park, the boreholes on one game have collapsed. We had been advised that it was a deliberate decision not to repair those boreholes so that elephants would come across to Botswana. At some stage we were watching 1 500 elephants a day in that Sepako area at a place called Zibanani. It is a challenge. This also proves the failure of CAZA and that is why I am saying that without partners which are the poorest countries, Cascada has a future. I have been saying this for some time and time, because maybe it suits those countries because those elephants are in Botswana are not in their countries.

Landfill; we are pleased to announce to you Honourable Minister that the Ministry is taking over the provision of electricity at the landfills. That is something that we are looking on and there is an Expression of Interest (EOI) at the moment. We are also looking at centralized collection points and we have also asked the various Councils to have transfer stations within the cities so that we can manage waste and also segregate waste at source and not at the end. Honourable Gaolathe, I thank you very much for giving me solutions as well as your observance, thank you Sir. High end tourism in Okavango, I totally agree, we need to look after that area. Other areas which do not have high end tourism, I totally agree that we should exploit those. In fact, currently in the policy which I saw when I came in the Ministry, I did not like what was written. That is why that policy had not come out. It will come out when it is more improved and more comprehensive than what it was in the beginning. It basically spoke about Government enabling the private sector to invest. That was the extent to that policy; today it is a lot more comprehensive.

I thank you for your comment because those are the very things as we have been looking at, how we can enable tourism in those marginal areas? There are various ways that we have come up with, one of which is adventure tourism, educational tourism, and the other one is cultural tourism. So those are issues and areas we have been looking at which are included in this. Elephant population is higher as I have spoken about and I also explained why it is high at the moment.

The fish sector regulation; we have changed for 2008 and we are currently changing those to date, and to manage them so that Batswana can selfishly be the beneficiaries of fish. There is no reason why we cannot have fish industry that is so vibrant in this country to rival any of the countries including South Africa.

I also want to acknowledge your comment on the Museum and the rehabilitations of all buildings. This is something that we seriously need to look at, and we have been trying. The funding has never been as adequate as it could be and that is why you see the little efforts that are being made. I acknowledge that you have observed that and those for Museums would be typically grateful for that acknowledgement. I also take on board what you are saying about trusts, I think that is an imaginative way of looking at things and that is something we should look at.

Tree planting communities; we have a project in Shaikarawe which is also a tree planting initiative. It is one of those that we could do better, I concur with you. But to get the communities to buy in, it has been a little bit of a challenge in the sense that they preferred exotic trees rather than indigenous trees, but we are currently working on that one at the moment.

All the issues about sewage are noted; it is the responsibility of Water Utilities Corporation. Our Department of Waste Management and Pollution Control frequently advises them on the quality of the sewage water or the waste water. They know that, but they told us from time to time that they have issues with the budget.

Fishing ban; I think I have covered the fishing ban and why it was introduced, but soon it will be adjusted accordingly.

Game farming; we have currently engaged an area for game farming for communities. The issue that we had with the game farmers is that they would not adopt the community and that was one of the reasons why I denied them the opportunity to sell wildlife. Why would I allow somebody to hunt and sell wildlife in my country when I cannot do that in my own country? It does not make sense. So we have asked them to adopt communities,

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Tuesday 15thMarch, 2016 ORGANISATION 2400 - TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS - Committee of Supply

we are still battling with them to adopt communities. However, not all of them have adopted that attitude, and we are now starting to make a breakthrough to have communities involved in game farming.

Elephant Orphanage; we have Public Private Partnership (PPP) underway in the Kasane area for an elephant orphanage. It is something that we are considering to develop.

I have one issue here by Honourable Mzwinila. We have engaged the BCL, and they missed two deadlines we had given them. So I believe the next deadline will be a deadline, if you understand what I am saying. Mr Chairperson, I am not able to complete the rest because of time. I also want to acknowledge the issue of fishing at Letsibogo Dam and the other dams of interest. I think it is a wonderful opportunity where we can manage fishing, have tours and promote it there, like having a fishing competition which we have in the Shakawe area. There is no reason at all why we would not be able to start a programme like that. I thank you very much for your suggestion and we would look at that as well.

Honourable Nkaigwa, thank you very much for your comment, we have spoken several times on waste energy. I think I have covered the waste energy. The plastic levy is straightforward, when government introduced the regulation, they did not come up with a way in which it can be collected, and that is why we have now opted for plastic bag ban. The reason why we have opted for the plastic bag ban is because we are spending a lot of money, particularly through Ipelegeng to have people picking up plastic bags and to be honest, we are not winning. So we think it is better to treat this thing as a cost and remove the plastic bag. This plastic bag ban will be for any plastic bag which is 60 microns or less, and that is the plastic bag that we would have at Spar, Woolworths or wherever. So that is the reason why we are pursuing the plastic bag ban. Also 90 per cent of the plastic bags manufactured in this country are exported, and they are not used locally, only 10 per cent are used locally.

Gaborone Treatment Plant; I concur with you, we have spoken to Water Utilities, they have told us there is lack of water which is used for cleaning and that is why there is a smell. Quite honestly, other than what we have said to Water Utilities, I do not know what more we can do about that plant at Phakalane. It is a spare plant, an overflow plant. It just stands there empty, until it has excess going through it, then that is when it would be used. So that is also the reason why you will find that it is just there and empty.

Sand mining comments; I agree, at the moment we are

not issuing Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) on sand mining. Sand mining is a terrible problem at the moment, but we hope that within the next two or three weeks, or maybe a month, we will be able to address the situation and bring it to a reasonable conclusion.

Honourable Mabeo, I took note of your request, about your area, Thamaga-Kumakwane. We acknowledge your appreciation of the elephant structure and we will certainly look into your constituency to see how we can develop tourism in the southern part. It would be of interest to note that we have developed the Southern Heritage Trail which will cover Kanye, Ramotswa and Molepolole and we have no problem at all including other areas such as Moshupa, Kumakwane etcetera. So that would be a wonderful opportunity to pursue.

Honourable Markus, you talked about the trusts that are not functioning. I have explained why some of the trusts are not functioning, but we had a solution available, it is only that it has not been used. Khwai River Lodge; even though the leases may have expired, there are no lodges that have been closed, until the lease issues are resolved. So I want to give you my assurance on that. The Sankoyo request for 46 beds; the management plan did not cater for 46 beds, we suggested they should do another lodge because of the impact of the EIA area. You also talked about allowances; the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) has commuted overtime.

Mr Chairperson, I therefore move that the sum of Six Hundred and Fifteen Million, Four Hundred and Forty Four Thousand and Four Hundred Pula (P615, 444, 400) under the Recurrent Budget for Head 2000 be approved and stand part of the Schedule of Appropriation (2016/2017) Bill, 2016 (No. 1 of 2016); and that the sum of Two Hundred and Thirteen Million, Five Hundred and Seventeen Thousand, Six Hundred and Forty Three Pula (P213, 517, 643) for Head 2000 in the Development Fund Estimates be approved and stand part of those estimates. I thank you.

Question put and agreed to.

ORGANISATION 2400 - TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS

MR CHAIRPERSON (MR MOLATLHEGI): Order! Order! You are asked to note that 2 hours 45 minutes has been allocated to this Organisation. I shall call upon the Honourable Minister to reply to the debate at 1640 hours tomorrow and the question will be put at 1710 hours tomorrow.

MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS (MR MABEO): Mr Chairperson, as is a norm at this time of the year, I am

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here today to present to this Honourable House, the Ministry of Transport and Communication’s budget bids for the 2016/2017 financial year as well as give an account of the P 3 695 187 380 (three billion, six hundred and ninety five million, one hundred and eighty-seven thousand, three hundred and eighty Pula) that was allocated to my Ministry to use for both the recurrent and development budgets in the current financial year 2015/16. This year I request for funds amounting to P 3 337 757 190 (three billion, three hundred and thirty seven million, seven hundred and fifty-seven thousand, one hundred and ninety Pula) which comprises of P 2 022 398 190 (two billion, twenty-two million, three hundred and ninety eight thousand, one hundred and ninety eight pula) for the recurrent budget, and P 1 315 359 000 (one billion, three hundred and fifteen million, three hundred and fifty nine thousand pula) for the development budget.

Mr Chairperson, as aforementioned, allow me to now account of the funds I was given by this Honourable House for the provision of transport and communication services to the nation of Botswana by implementing some development projects in the 2015/16 financial year. I will also give a general performance of the two sectors under my custody for my colleagues in this Honourable House to know how we fared during the year under review to enable them to make an informed consideration as well as decision on my request for funds for the coming financial year.

Mr Chairperson, to date, out of the P2 079 505 380 allocated for the Recurrent Expenditure, P1 809 055 384 or 87 per cent has been spent and for the Development Budget, out of the P1 615 682 000 allocated for various projects in my Ministry, P1 384 405 247 or 86 per cent has been spent. This is as at 11th March 2016. This expenditure level is expected to have increased by the 31st of March 2016. Detailed analysis of expenditure for the year under review is reflected at Annex A.

RECURRENT REVENUE

Mr Chairperson, the Ministry projected total revenue for 2015/16 amounts to P 702 044 530. To date we have managed to collect P 481 493 568 which is 69 per cent of what was estimated. The bulk of the under collection is as a result of non-payment of fuel and maintenance charges by the Sister Ministries. In this regard my ministry will with effect from 1st April 2016 not fuel any vehicle from a ministry which has an outstanding payment. See Annex C for details.

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY SECTOR

Mr Chairperson, I am glad to report that in today’s digital world, Botswana has made significant strides

in harnessing the power of the digital technology. The digital dividends which are in simple terms the broader development benefits mainly of enhanced service delivery, growth and expanded opportunities are beginning to be increasingly felt. The communications sector continues to contribute significantly to the economic growth of Botswana. Opportunities are now beginning to increasingly become available and we are seeing more and more services positively being impacted by digital technologies. I am well aware that more remains to be done.

POLICY FRAMEWORK: CYBERSECURITY & BROADBAND STRATEGIES

Government in collaboration with the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation, and key stakeholders, has undertaken a project to develop the first National Cyber Security strategy for the country. This is a major step in ensuring the nation is safeguarded against cyber incidents and threats that could potentially interrupt our way of life. Still in collaboration with Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation, we are also finalising the review of the Draft National Broadband Strategy. We envisage to complete these two projects in April 2016. These are essential policy documents which will ensure diffusion of services in a protected and assured environment.

REVIEW OF THE COMMUNICATIONS LICENSING FRAMEWORK

In a bid to create a vibrant business market climate and allow small and big organisations to harness the power of digital technologies, my Ministry has established successfully a new licensing framework in 2015. The licensing framework will usher in more competition and introduce diverse digital services that will give rise to immense opportunities in the digital world for government, businesses and individuals. As I had previously reported another initiative Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority is also developing a licensing framework for the licensing of postal sector in the country. This initiative is ongoing with the draft licensing framework and the draft postal market assessment report having been reviewed in February this year and the draft final framework is now being finalized.

DEVELOPMENT OF ICT INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT AND SERVICES

Mr Chairperson, ICT services have on occasion experienced interruption challenges, emanating from the fact that such systems have numerous linkages and inter dependencies of technologies and components owned and operated by diverse organisations, the Ministry

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has undertaken a holistic approach to addressing the root causes. This is addressed from the governance, operations, System level, the transmission level, linkages, power, and human resources level.

Mr Chairperson, I had previously reported that operators are embarking on plans to expand their networks to address coverage limitation and improved service performance. I am happy to report to you that, telecoms providers continue to upgrade their systems, and this has resulted in a noticeable improvement in the quality of service. To ensure good quality of services, the regulator has procured mobile, and fixed line quality of service monitoring tools. This tool was necessary to address the public concerns about poor quality of services that we have been grappling with.

Investment in the communications infrastructure has significantly grown over the past few years. This is vital for improved quality of services, expansion of coverage and diffusion of broadband services. We have seen significant developments in the expansion of the ICT network connecting cities, towns and villages. In 2015 the national fibre backbone was expanded with Sehitwa-Mohembo, Sekoma-Tsabong and Maun-Ngoma Bridge optical fibre network having been complete and in the process a total of 34 new villages have been connected to the network. More projects are being implemented to roll out fibre backbone network from Mohembo to Gudigwa,

Selebi-Phikwe to Mathathane, Tsabong to Two Rivers and Kachikau to Parakarungu to connect 27 new villages to the network and they are expected to be complete by September 2016.

We have made considerable progress on the last mile, connecting users to communications points of presence. Last mile connectivity using Fibre-To-The-premises (FTTx) has been rolled out in Gaborone (first Phase), Francistown (first Phase), Maun, Kasane and Kazungula and a total of 370 businesses, government and commercial premises has been connected. Currently these services are being deployed in other places such as Gaborone (second Phase), Francistown (second Phase), Selebi-Phikwe, Lobatse, Tsabong, Mogoditshane, Serowe and Palapye with a target completion of June 2016. These projects are vital if we are to realise the positive impact of broadband services of which research shows that it translates in to significant economic growth and improved livelihood.

SEPARATION AND PRIVITISATION OF BOTSWANA TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION (BTC)

BTC asset separation to Botswana Fibre Networks Ltd (BoFiNet) is now complete. This has

resulted in two separate entities with Botswana Telecommunications Corporation Limited (BTCL) offering telecommunications services to the public while BoFiNeT is providing telecommunications services at wholesale level to a number of retail operators including BTCL.

The hallmark privatisation project in Botswana is on the verge of completion. As part of the privatisation process of BTCL, BTCL’s Prospectus was successfully launched on the 21st of December 2015 and it is available online for download. Hard copies are available at BTCL shops and offices, Botswana Post, Choppies and Barclays Bank branches. The opening of the Share Offer took place on the 11th of January 2016 and has been closed on the 4th March 2016 with listing on the BSE earmarked at the end of week 1 of April 2016. Batswana have taken up to procuring the shares for themselves as evidenced by the applications made. The next step of allocation has been commenced.

IMPROVEMENT OF BOTSWANA TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION LIMITED SERVICES

BTCL entered into a strategic partnership with Vodafone in March 2015 in order to strengthen its operations and improve its competitive position with the other 2 PTOs who both have international partners. The scope of this Non-Equity agreement includes, but is not limited to, Procurement, Talent Development, Products and Services, Terminals and Wholesale Network Services. A number of contracts have now been signed with Vodafone which include International Voice Hubbing and Roaming thereby improving the BTCL customer experience both at home and overseas. A number of other initiatives are at various stages of negotiation and deployment.

BTCL has reached an agreement with the Ministry of Transport and Communications and The Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture to transfer the management of Kitsong Centres associated with the Nteletsa 2 Project to The Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture management, through the Botswana National Youth Council. The Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture plans to engage young entrepreneurs to manage these centres replacing the previous model where management was carried out by Village Development Committees. The delivery of the project is in 3 phases, Phase 1 being 33 Kitsong centres, 60 Centres for Phase 2 which should start in March 2016 and 59 for Phase 3 which will start at the end of Phase 2. 29 of the planned 33 Kitsong Centres have been transferred and created approximately 60 youth entrepreneur jobs. The remaining four centres will carry over into Phase 2 of the Project. The Ministry

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of Youth, Sports and Culture will be funding Phase 2 and 3 with an amount of P5, 150,000.

E-GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES

Mr Chairperson, implementation of e-Government programme is ongoing and it is still to continue in the coming financial year, specifically to facilitate the implementation of appropriate government services online. The project is currently facing implementation challenges ranging from inadequate ICT infrastructure to lack of skilled personnel. In order to address the challenges, consultancy services have been engaged including expansion of the ICT infrastructure, establishment of Programme Management Office, development of Service Oriented Enterprise Architecture and skills transformation in support of e-Government programme.

The establishment of Programme Management Office (PMO) is well under way and setting up the office will be completed by the end of March 2016. The project to develop Service Oriented Enterprise Architecture (SOEA) commenced in February 2016. Expansion of the ICT infrastructure has already commenced and the supplier is on site. Transformation of skills in support of e-Government is ongoing, ninety per cent of officers at e-Government have been trained in Project Management and more will be trained in Programme Management this year. A project to ensure that e-Government services are provided in a secure manner is in progress and compliance will be checked against ISO 27001 Information Security Management System (ISMS).

GOVERNMENT DATA NETWORK (GDN)

Mr Chairperson, when the GDN was designed over fifteen years ago, it was primarily designed to carry data. Over the years, it has seen a rise in volumes of voice and video traffic. This is negatively affecting the performance of some Government systems. In order to mitigate against this, my Ministry has embarked on a project to revamp the GDN to make it a converged network that will optimally and efficiently carry high quality video, voice and data services to better serve the nation.

Mr Chairperson, the project for the construction of the primary Data Centre is ongoing. We are currently at the design stage of the project. My ministry has also identified another site for the construction of the secondary Data Centre that will be located outside Gaborone.

MERGER BSB AND BOTSWANA POST

Mr Chairperson, following the successful formation holding company, Botswana Post and Savings Bank

Limited, a lot of progress has been made. The group governance structure has been created and two new companies have since been introduced under my Ministry. These are Botswana Postal Services Pty Ltd (currently trading as BotswanaPost) and Botswana Savings Bank.

The merger will offer sister companies a lot of leverage in mobilising resources within the group such as taking advantage of economies of scale in areas such as advertising, procurement and utilizing a pool of assets at their disposal within the group. In this regard, the greatest leverage for each subsidiary company will be access to a wide postal network across the country that provides the best outreach to customers.

BOTSWANA COURIERS & LOGISTICS (BC&L)

Botswana Couriers & Logistics (BC&L) is a company limited by shares incorporated under the Companies Act. The company was formed in 2001 mainly to compete with privately owned and international courier companies in the market space where the Botswana Post was constrained. As a private company wholly owned by the Government, the drive has been to grow the company revenues through relentless pursuit of revenue diversification through a wide suite of products offering to both the private and public sector.

BOTSWANA POSTAL SERVICES (BOTSWANAPOST)

Government continues to make strides to take services to the people. A total of 6 post offices re being developed with two new post offices being constructed at Shoshong and Tshesebe. The other four (4) existing post offices of Bokspits, Mahalapye, Mookane and Serowe are being upgraded. The construction and upgrading will amongst others, address concerns of small office spaces, congestion and provision of limited services. In addition, Botswana Savings Bank requirements will also be catered for at the above post offices. The projects are already underway and works are scheduled to be completed by mid-2016.

Botswana Post has been awarded a certificate for S42 Addressing Standard by the Universal Postal Union. The S42 is an international postcode and addressing standard that provides precise information about country address elements and formats. Following the success of the location address (home delivery) projects in Tshane, which is a rural setting, the pilot project has now been extended to an urban setting where home mail delivery was launched in Gaborone Block 7 and 8. This project is being implemented under the LAPCAS project which is led by Ministry of Lands and Housing.

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SCHOOL CONNECTIVITY

Mr Chairperson, with regard to the Economic Stimulation Programme (ESP), my ministry is making strides, and has issued a tender on the Schools Connectivity Project which is now at evaluation stage. This tender is for procurement of ICT devices for a number of schools, which will ensure that our future generation can compete with the best in the world in this area of ICT, and further ensure Botswana is the destination of choice. This devices will be used for used for e-Learning, a new way that facilitates learning easily.

TRANSPORT SECTOR

POLICY AND LEGISLATIVE ENVIRONMENT

Mr Chairperson, my ministry continues to improve our legislative instruments being Road Traffic Act (RTA) and Road Transport Permits Act (RTPA). Some Regulations of the Road Traffic Act have been reviewed and enacted during the 2015/16 financial year. These regulations include conversion of foreign driving license, lowering of age restrictions of PrDP applicants, increase of validity period of theory, yard and road test results from 12 months to 24 months. Furthermore, SADC member states are allowed to use their driving licenses whilst staying in Botswana without the need to convert as per SADC Protocol on Transport and Meteorology.

My ministry has decided to enhance road safety by the use of technology through the following initiatives;

a. The computerisation of the Driver Theory Testing System (DTTS). This was first implemented in Gaborone Vehicle Testing Station (VTS), Lobatse, Palapye and Francistown VTS. This financial year the system was rolled out to additional three (3) stations namely, Jwaneng, Maun, and Fairgrounds in Gaborone.

b. Construction of the computerised driver testing ground (Intelligent Driver Testing System (IDTS)) in Maru-a-pula is expected to be completed in the financial year 2016/17. This system will reform driving attitudes, improve traffic culture and promote fair driving test evaluations by minimising human involvement.

TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTANANCE

ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE

Mr Chairperson, there has been significant progress as regards the commencement and completion of mega projects in my ministry. The bulk of development budget for my ministry was used for continuation of the following roads infrastructure projects which are carried over from 2015/16 financial year namely:

Tonota-Francistown (30 km) dual road, and Road Sector Investment (Output and Performance Based Contracts) projects. The Tonota-Francistown upgrading to dual carriageway is currently at 97 per cent progress compared to 100 per cent planned as at 22nd February 2016. The project is scheduled for completion by April 2016. The construction of Thapama

Interchange is currently 31 per cent complete against 52 per cent planned as at 22nd February 2016. This project fell behind time due to delayed relocation of telecommunication services. The interchange is expected to be completed by end of August 2016. Completion of the interchange will enhance traffic flow in and out of Francistown City.

Mr Chairperson, a 135 km section of the Nata - Kazungula road is complete. The remaining 65 km has been awarded for Design with the assistance of funding from AfDB through COMESA.

The long awaited Design and Construction of the 109 km road between Charleshill and Ncojane road has finally been awarded to Zac Construction (Pty) Ltd for a period of 36 months. Currently design works are ongoing and on schedule. The first construction works are expected to commence during the first quarter of 2016/17 and the project is expected to be completed by 8th September 2018.

The Design Review of Mohembo Bridge across the Okavango River has been completed and pre contract for construction has commenced. Collection of tender documents commenced on the 4th January 2016 with closing date for bidders scheduled for 30th March 2016.

Mr Chairperson, my ministry had identified a total of fourteen (14) projects to implement under ESP. The Fourteen projects comprise of 8 major projects and 6 access roads below 30 km comprising: Thalamabele - Mosu road (28 km); Moshupa - Manyana Road (17 km); Thamaga - Kubung (22 km) and Goodhope - Kgoro - Gathwane Road (12 km), Radisele - Pilikwe (23 km) and Modipane - Mabalane (24 km). Some of the 8 major projects have been designed and are ready for construction while other designs are being reviewed.

Mr Chairperson, maintenance and upkeep of our road network continues to pose a challenge to my ministry. However, we are doing all that we can to arrest the situation. We continue to engage local contractors to do bush clearing along public road network on output-based basis. This initiative is proving to be more efficient as more roads are being cleared. Roads in the following regions have been successfully cleared using this approach: North West, South East, Gantsi, Central, Southern and South West. In North East some projects

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are still on going and all roads will be cleared before end of this financial year. The initiative has been extended to pothole patching in some of the roads as a pilot project.

We continue to reseal our roads that are reaching their end of design lives. The following are examples of works that we successfully completed through our reseal/asphalt overlay maintenance programme: the Serule - Tonota, Sebina-Tutume, Molepolole - Mapharangwane, Khumaga - Motopi, Sebina - Masunga and Selibe Phikwe - Sefhophe roads.

Shoulder repair and resealing of Junction 44 – Tsotshaa Sect II (40km), Bobonong – Lekkerport (55 km), Francistown – Matsiloje (55 km), Draaihoek – Omaweneno (30 km) roads are on-going and will be completed in the next financial year while Sefophe – Martins Drift Sect A - C (40 km) each, Maun – Sehithwa (60 km) are due for completion in the current financial year.

Mr Chairperson, my ministry is engaging the community on short term contracts to collect litter along the public highways. The initiative is proving to be effective especially in areas where we are collaborating with Local Authorities. My ministry will nonetheless, continue to engage, monitor and perfect the initiative as implementation progresses. As for Labour Based Technology (LBT) projects along A1, my ministry is currently working on modalities of unbundling these projects to create more opportunities for employment and improve efficiency as more youth contractors will be engaged to undertake various activities such as cattle chasing, vegetation control, fence repairs and pothole patching. Initially one contractor would be engaged to undertake all these various activities.

BITP PROJECTS

The Botswana Integrated Transport Project (BITP), is co-financed with the World Bank, aims to improve the overall state of transport in the country, including in particular; the public transport system of the Greater Gaborone Area to reduce road automotive congestion, road traffic accidents, average commute times, improve the average level of road safety, as well as enhance opportunities for non-motorized, and other ‘active’ transport modes.

This Mr Chairperson, is a step in the right direction because the promotion of road passenger transport is now widely accepted as a fundamental component of strategies to contain road traffic congestion; including other road transport externalities. It is also in pursuit of effective and long-lasting solutions, that, in contemporary times, road traffic jams, the demand for environmentally friendly and sustainable solutions

to mobility problems, and the need to undertake well-thought-out initiatives for fiscal reasons; are driving the development of innovative ideas in the field of transport in general, and passenger transport in particular.

Mr Chairperson, last year I alluded to the Study on the implementation of an Improved Metropolitan Public Transport System for the Greater Gaborone Area, which is coming to an end in March 2016. In terms of traffic generation, peri-urban areas contribute significantly, because the inward and outward trajectory of the ensuing trips results in road gridlock on the city’s road network. This increase influences auto mobility, and excess demand for road space, is exacerbated when reliable public transport services are inadequate or inefficient.

It is for this reason, therefore, that, many countries of both the developed and developing world, are now focusing their attention on the development of more efficient modes of public transportation, with the capacity and capability to respond to the mobility needs of growing populations, as a plausible response to road traffic congestion and other externalities.

Mr Chairperson, my ministry has taken a step to develop the National Multi Modal Transport Master Plan and the Greater Gaborone Transport Master Plan to improve sector management and facilitate transport integration with land use and other productive sectors. This will be the blue print in guiding us to have an efficient, cost effective and safer integrated transport system. The projects and programmes to be identified by this study will lead to economic diversification. The studies for the National Multi Modal Transport Master Plan and the Greater Gaborone Transport Master Plan are both concluding in 2016.

Output and Performance-based Road Contracts (OPRC)

Mr Chairperson, as part of the BITP my ministry has also embarked upon a pilot project introducing Output and Performance-based Road Contracts (OPRCs) covering 335 km of main road and 52.5 km of access road mainly in Southern District. This type of contracts increase the efficiency and effectiveness of road operations and significantly expand the role of the private sector, from the simple execution of works to the management and operational responsibilities of road assets together with improvement, rehabilitation, maintenance (periodic & routine) and emergency works. OPRCs are meant to ensure that the physical condition of the roads under contract is adequate for the need of road users, over the entire period of the contract which is normally several years.

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Mr Chairperson, the OPRC pilot started in May 2014 and will run for a period of 10 years. The pilot runs in 2 packages with Package 1 covering parts of the A10 and A2 road from Mmankgodi to Jwaneng through Kanye and Package 2 covering the entire B101 road from Rakhuna-Tlhareseleele-Pitsane-Phitshane/Molopo-Mabule road. Access roads within 10 km of these stretches of roads will be rehabilitated or upgraded as necessary. OPRC maintenance works commenced in May 2014 on both Packages and will run throughout 10-year period i.e. until April 2024. Construction works (rehabilitation and improvement works) started in July 2015 and will run for a period of 2 years. So far, about 20 km of rehabilitation works have been completed up to surfacing on Package 1, while 15 km have been completed on Package 2.

RAIL SECTOR NETWORK AND SERVICES

Mr Chairperson, in the spirit of improving as well as addressing efficiently the transportation situation to Batswana, Botswana Railways is procuring eight (8) Locomotives as part of its recapitalization plan. These locomotives are expected to be delivered by March 2017.

Mr Chairperson, I’m pleased to announce that after persistent public demand, my ministry through the Botswana Railways is reintroducing Passenger Services Train to run between Lobatse and Francistown. There will be daily scheduled night service from each end and will commence service on the 23rd March 2016. Day schedules will be considered to augment road passenger transport during peak periods. The train will stop at the six (6) stations being; Lobatse, Gaborone, Mahalapye, Palapye, Serule and Francistown. In addition, Botswana Railways is refurbishing its station buildings in line with the passenger train service.

Mr Chairperson, the passenger train services comes with other employment opportunities, not which only benefit Botswana Railways, but other sectors e.g. catering, security, cleaning and sanitation, which have been contracted to citizen based companies.

Mr Chairperson, I would also like to highlight that the passenger service offers different classes as follows;

(a) Standard class, which is more improved than a normal economy class.

(b) Business class, targeted for the business community.

(c) Sleeper (first class) which is only available on the night trains which is targeted for sleeping on-board.

(d) Buffet car, which offers refreshment at a fee.

(e) Luggage van, offers conveyance of excess luggage as well as parcels at a fee.

The above mentioned train consist will have capacity of at least 450 passengers per train.

AVIATION SECTOR

Mr Chairperson, Aviation is one critical sector in the mobility of goods and people. The development of facilities and improvement of business for this industry is expected to contribute immensely towards the growth of a number of sectors, namely; Tourism, mining and various business opportunities, thereby contributing towards the growth of the country’s GDP.

In order to ensure that contribution of aviation to the economy as a whole is realised, a number of development and maintenance projects are currently undertaken in our main airports, and these projects are at various stages. I am pleased to report that, the Francistown Airport and Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (SSKIA) expansions were completed in 2011 and 2015, respectively. These airports are currently utilised and efforts are underway to attract more airlines into the country to utilize them as per the open sky policy that has been adopted by the Government. The construction of Kasane Terminal Building commenced on the 3rd November 2014 and is scheduled to be completed in February 2017, and work on the New Air Traffic Control Tower and Technical block in Maun that commenced in January 2015 is expected to be completed in March 2016.

My ministry is also currently implementing a project called “Improvement of Radar Coverage in the Eastern Sector Airspace” to enhance air traffic surveillance in the eastern airspace of Botswana. This project is scheduled for completion and commissioning at the end of March 2016. Furthermore, the installation of the equipment for the Air Traffic Control Radar Simulator was completed and commissioned in April 2015.

My ministry is further implementing a project for Improvement of Navigation aids at Maun, Kasane and Kang. The project entails installation of navigation aids at these sites in order to enhance flight operation safety in the Botswana Airspace and at airports. A contract for installation of navigation aids at Kang was signed in July 2015 and manufacturing of equipment is in progress. Delivery and installation is scheduled for June 2016. On the other hand, a tender for navigation aids at Maun and Kasane is scheduled for advertisement in March 2016.

Mr Chairperson, our efforts to attract more airlines to fly into the country are slowly bearing fruits. To date, a total

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of five (5) airlines are currently flying into Botswana. These are Ethiopian Airlines, South African Express Airways, South African Air link, Kenya Airways, and Air Namibia. Another airline from Zimbabwe; namely, Fast Jet, has been given traffic rights to operate from Harare to Francistown, then Gaborone and back, with effect from June 2016. This will increase the number of airlines doing business in Botswana to six (6) and it is expected that this number should increase in the near future as discussions are underway with 2 long haul carriers.

BOTSWANA’S ADHERENCE TO INTERNATIONAL AVIATION SAFETY STANDARDS

Mr Chairperson, the Civil Aviation Authority of Botswana (CAAB) underwent an aviation safety oversight validation in April 2013. Two significant safety concerns (SSCs) in Aircraft Operations and Airworthiness of Aircraft were identified. Today I am happy to announce that the two SSCs were successfully resolved in December 2015. In addition, ICAO determined that Botswana’s Effective Implementation (EI) of ICAO Standard and Recommended Practices has increased from 53.78 per cent to an EI of 71.32 per cent which puts Botswana above the African and Global averages of 46.39 per cent and 62.68 per cent, respectively.

Mr Chairperson, this now means that Botswana has now resumed accepting applications for new Air Operators Certificates (AOCs), Approved Maintenance Organization (AMOs) and Approved Training Organizations (ATOs).

GOVERNMENT TRANSPORT SERVICES

Mr Chairperson, in implementing the CTO policy objectives during the 2015/16 financial year, CTO faced a number of challenges.

In an effort to reduce delays in delivery of maintenance services, CTO accredited a number of garages to assist Government. Government also decentralised the management of vehicle maintenance to ministries to ensure increased accountability and speedy services.

Madam Chairperson, my Ministry is operating one ferry in Kazungula and three in Mohembo. During this financial year we experienced frequent break down of Kazungula ferry due to failure by some of the hull modules which led to water coming into the modules. Efforts to outsource the

Kazungula ferry are ongoing. The identified contractor will be doing a trial run from April 2016 to July 2016. In an effort to ensure smooth running of the Mohembo

ferries CTO has identified extra service providers in Botswana who will assist with maintenance and repair of major components of the Ferries rather than relying on foreign suppliers.

In an effort to reduce travelling distances by departments to acquire fuel, my Ministry has increased access to fuel by adding eight extra fuel points in strategic areas. Government vehicles are now able to access fuel at Ncojane, Sehithwa, Mabutsane, Phitshane/Molopo, Goodhope, Letlhakeng, Takatokwane and Sojwe. Other initiatives in this regard include engagement of private filling stations in areas where government is not able to provide services. Negotiations with the private fuel suppliers have started in this regard.

Mr Chairperson, on the issue of Fleet Management, a computerized system called Fleet Tracking Maintenance and Management System (FTMMS) has been completed and rolled out to all regions and other ministries. The system will be used to monitor maintenance costs of each vehicle as well as addressing issues of abuse and misuse of vehicles. Ministries and Departments have been trained and further training will be done in February and March 2016 in order to ensure that each Ministry is able to utilize the system.

Mr Chairperson let me now present to this Honourable House my budget proposal for the financial year 2016/17, starting with the Recurrent budget proposal and then conclude with the Development budget bid.

2016/17 RECCURENT BUDGET ESTIMATES

Mr Chairperson, my ministry requests for a provision of P 2, 022, 398, 190. 00 (Two billion, twenty two million, three hundred and ninety eight thousand, one hundred and ninety pula only) for the financial year 2016/2017 compared to the P 2, 079, 505, 380. 00 (Two billion, seventy nine million, five hundred and five thousand, three hundred and eighty pula only) which was warranted for the financial year 2015/2016. This represents about 3 per cent decrease.

The largest share goes to the Central Transport Organisation with an amount of P 570, 200, 800. 00 or 28 per cent followed by the Department of Information Technology P 460, 516, 470. 00 or 23 per cent and Department of Roads P 431, 717, 610.00 or 21 per cent whilst 28 per cent is shared by the other three departments namely, Corporate Services, Road Transport and Safety, Telecommunications and Postal Services.

2401- Department of Corporate Services

Headquarters has been warranted P 420, 972, 940. 00. Out of which P 34, 244, 070. 00 is for Personal

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Emoluments, Other Charges amounts to P 96, 133, 460. 00 whereas Grants and Subventions amounts to P 242, 850, 050. 00. The breakdown of the grants and subvention is as follows: CAAB P 159, 486, 530.00; BOFINET P 34, 700, 000. 00; Botswana Post and Savings Group Limited P 25, 000, 000. 00; whereas Botswana Post (Universal Service Obligation) P 23, 663, 520.00. In addition vehicles will be replaced to the tune of P 47, 745, 360. 00.

2402- Department of Roads Transport and Safety

This Department has been warranted P 128, 264, 630. 00. Out of which P 83, 422, 170.00 is for Personal Emoluments whereas Other Charges is P 44, 842, 460. 00.

2403-Central Transport Organisation

This Department has been warranted P 570, 200, 820.00. Out of P 129 952 340 is for Personal Emoluments, P 345, 000, 000. 00 is for Petrol, Oil and Lubricants, P 29, 235, 720. 00 is for Sub contract repairs, vehicle and plant maintenance whereas Other Charges is P66, 012, 760. 00.

2404- Telecommunications and Postal Services

The department has a warranted provision of P 10, 725, 720. 00, out of which P 6, 257, 060. 00 is for Personal emoluments whereas P 4, 468, 660. 00 is for other charges.

2405- Department of Roads

The department has a warranted provision of P 431, 717, 610. 00. out of which P 124, 954, 290. 00 is for Personal emoluments, P 233, 945, 000. 00 is for Road maintenance whereas P 72, 818, 320.00 is for other charges.

2406- Department of Information Technology

The department has warranted provision of P 460 516 470. Out of which P 133 932 590 is for Personal Emoluments, P 191 514 820 for Computer Systems consumables and maintenance whereas P 135 069 060 is for other charges.

2016/17 DEVELOPMENT BUDGET ESTIMATES

Mr Chairperson, I now present the ministry’s Development Budget. For the implementation of the Ministry’s development projects planned for the 2016/17 financial year, I request for the sum of P 1, 315, 359, 000.00 (one billion, three hundred and fifteen million, three hundred and fifty nine thousand pula). The proposed amount represents a net decrease of about 19 per cent below the current year’s financial

provision. The bulk of this budget goes to the upgrading of existing roads under the Bitumen and Trunk Roads, Telecommunications Development and Air Transport Infrastructure Programs, respectively. This budget shall be distributed as follows;

09541 - MTC Computerization P 1, 500, 000.00

Mr Chairperson, the funds requested under this programme are to undertake Computerisation of Driver Test project in the 2016/17 financial year.

09543 - MTC Consultancies P 34 000 000

Mr Chairperson, under this programme P 34, 000, 000. 00 is requested for implementation of the Upgrading of Botswana Roads Management System, Revision of Botswana Road Design Manual and Standard Specifications, Training Long term and short term (BITP), General Cooperation Activities, National Multi-Modal Transport Master Plan (BITP), Public Transport Modernization project (BITP), Improvement of Public Transport and Route Signage (BITP), OPRC Monitoring Consultancy as well as the Technical Support Group (BITP).

09547 - Bitumen and Trunk Roads P 398 659 000

Mr Chairperson, the largest amount is required under this programme for implementation of some currently on-going projects as well as some of the ESP projects. These projects are the MTC Technology and Logistics (BITP), construction and supervision costs for the Charles Hill Ncojane Road project, Package 1 (OPRC) Mankgodi-Jwaneng (BITP), Package 2 (OPRC) Rakhuna-Mabule (BITP), Tonota - F/Town - Design and Construction, Traffic Signal Modernisation + Centralised Traffic Control for Greater Gaborone- BITP, Upgrading of 3 Grades Intersections of KT Motsete Drive (Western bypass), Access Road to CBD, Mogoditshane - Gabane - Mmankgodi Junction project and Gaborone - Lobatse Dualling Phase 1 which includes 1 interchange at Boatle.

09548 - Secondary Roads Construction P 170, 000, 000.00

Most ESP projects will be implemented under this programme. Hundred and seventy million pula is requested here Mr Chairperson for the implementation of the Mabeleapudi – Serule, Dibete-Mookane-Machaneng, Design Review and Construction of Molepolole Internal Road, Mmandunyane - Shashemooke - Borolong - Chadibe - Mathangwane road, Mulambakwena-Tshesebe via Mosojane with a junct to Masunga road, Thamaga-Kubung Road, Goodhope – Kgoro-Gathwane road, Manyana Moshupa road, Mmathethe-Tsoaneng Road, Gatshwane (Butale-

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Tshesebe & Butale-Senyawe), Thalamabele-Mosu, Radisele - Pilikwe Road as well as the Modipane – Sikwane Road.

09549 - Bridges Construction P 145, 000, 000. 00

Construction of the Kazungula Bridge as well as design of the Mohembo Bridge will continue under this programme. Only hundred and forty five million pula will be required in the coming financial year for these projects.

09552- Air Transport Infrastructure P 197, 200, 000. 00

Mr Chairperson, the third largest share of my ministry’s development budget the Air Transport Infrastructure programme. Major projects under this programme include Maun Airport Improvements Supervision Consultancy Services, Improvement of Radar coverage in the Eastern (Sua Pan), SSKA Procurement and Installation of ATC Radar Simulator, SSKA Terminal Building Construction, Kasane Airport - Construction of Airside Works, Terminal building and Control Tower, Aeronautical Mobile Services (Improvement of VHF Communication in the Lower Airspace), Maun Airport - Air Traffic Control Tower, Kasane Airport - Consultancy Services, Maun Airport Relocation of People & property, Improvement of Aviation Security Systems, Navigational Aids (Installation of VOR/DME) at Kang, Maun and Kasane, Upgrading of AFTN to AMHS, Francistown Airport Improvement Construction-Terminal Buildings and the Maun Terminal Building Construction project.

09553 - Telecommunications Development P 270, 000, 000. 00

International connectivity, Backbone networks to upgrade some links to fibre optic technology for increased capacity, Local Access networks and the Schools Connectivity Project targeting 353 Primary, 142 CJSS and 28 Senior

Secondary Schools will be implemented through the funds requested under this programme. The programme takes up the second largest share of the ministry’s budget proposal.

09554 - Botswana Postal Services P 15, 000, 000. 00

Under this programme only fifteen million is required. The funds will be disbursed as annual subsidy for provision of Universal service Obligation activities by BOTSPOST for delivering the Universal Service Obligation (USO) on behalf of the Government. It is worth noting that ensuring that communities have access to quality basic Postal Services even in areas

where there is no commercial incentive continues to strain the financial position of the Post thus this request.

09555 - Development of ICT Facilities P 84, 000, 000. 00

Finally, Mr Chairperson, I request for eighty four million for the development of ICT facilities. Activities to be carried out include Computer Refurbishment Centre, GDN Phase III, IT Governance Framework Standards, DPSM System - HR Payroll System (e-Gov Component).The e-Government Programme will also be covered.

Mr Chairperson, my presentation of the 2016/17 recurrent and development budgets concludes here. I now request to move that the sum of P 2, 022, 398, 190. 00 (two billion, twenty-two million, three hundred and ninety-eight thousand, one hundred and ninety pula) in the Consolidated Fund be approved and stand as part of the Schedule of the Appropriation (2016/17) Bill 2016; and that the sum of, P 1, 315, 359, 000. 00 (one billion, three hundred and fifteen million, three hundred and fifty-nine thousand) in the Development Fund Estimates be approved and stand part of those Estimates in accordance with the amendments made to the Estimate Book. I thank you Mr Chairman.

MR CHAIRPERSON: Honourable Minister, whilst you are still standing, is there an amendment which you made in the speech you distributed to the Members of Parliament yesterday?

MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS (MR MABEO): Thank you Mr Chairperson, maybe I should apologise that I should have started by highlighting that there we some minor changes in the speech that we made copies of and submitted to Parliament yesterday. Thank you Mr Chairperson.

MR CHAIRPERSON: Can we give them the corrected one?

MR MABEO: Yes.

MR CHAIRPERSON: Where did you amend?

MR MABEO: I have made some minor changes. I would say on a number of Pages, but I must say Mr Chairperson that we have not actually produced the hard copy of the corrected one.

MR CHAIRPERSON :…(inaudible)…

MR MABEO: Oh! You do have, I was not aware. Thank you Mr Chairperson, but the corrected version is the one that I would like it to be distributed to the Honourable Members. Thank you Mr Chairperson.

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MR CHAIRPERSON: Order! Order! Honourable Members the floor is open.

MR KABLAY (LETLHAKENG-LEPHEPHE): Thank you Mr Chairperson. Mr Speaker, first of all let me thank the Minister for his presentation. Like the Honourable Minister was saying, his Ministry has several departments. These many departments, are they not the ones which somehow make the Minister not perform effectively; because we are expecting a lot of things from him; post offices, roads and other things? Now is it not high time that some of the things be diverted and given to a Ministry like the one Honourable Molefhi is responsible for so that things can start moving in the Ministry? That is a question I am putting across to you Sir. Allow me to say, as a government, as the BDP (Domkrag) we said people should vote for us and we will take services to them. Your Ministry Honourable Minister is trailing behind here and there. When you take the renewal of licenses for instance, the constituency I am representing, the Letlhakeng Constituency that thing does not exist there. For someone to renew their license they have to commute and pay around P100, someone travelling all the way from Malwelwe, Kaudwane and Salajwe passing Letlhakeng being the centre of the constituency; passing all the way going to Molepolole. This is making people suffer Mr Chairperson. The time has come for licenses to be renewed in Letlhakeng so that people who come from far would be able to get assisted. The current system is making people suffer. People are asking us, they are saying, ‘you said you will bring services to us, now where are they?’ Things like testing centres, where people get licenses from are in Molepolole. Mr Chairperson as we always say, Letlhakeng has now grown; everything should not be stationed or done in Molepolole when Letlhakeng is such a big constituency; people can be tested there and issued with licenses so that they do not keep going to Molepolole. When they get to Molepolole they find a lot of congestion, by the time they go to the revenue to pay, they would be told that the computers are down; the poor people would then go back to where they came from, having incurred costs. Now this thing Mr Speaker, we want to tell the Minister that it is time he reviewed these things. In Letlhakeng we now have a population of about 14 000 people. If we take the population of the surrounding areas as well we can reach about 50 000. Now Minister let us review these things, and provide services to people; this is what we had promised them, lest they say, ‘You promised us things, now you are failing to deliver.’

The third thing Honourable Minister is that the roads this side, we know in our constituency tarred roads are luxury. Bakwena say something is a ‘luxury’ (moshomo).

I know we will not get a chance to have tarred roads; we have just been relegated to have dusty roads. If you take the Malwelwe- Ngware and Hatsalatladi-Ngware roads, they are unusable after it has rained. After the recent rains, people were suffering, the clinic at Diphuduhu; people were sick in Ngware, some wanted to deliver babies but the roads were not user friendly. We are thankful for the fact that they are being graded here and there Honourable Minister, but the problem is that when it rains they cannot be used. We are requesting that something should be done Sir. We are asking that they should put better gravel on them, so that as we lament in the meantime people would be able to at least use these roads. People should not lament about not having tarred roads, and also lament about the fact that when it rains there will just be chalky alkaline all over. Therefore Mr Speaker, we were requesting that places like Moshaweng-Kotolaname should have roads, so that people would be assisted.

Honourable Minister, your planners should not be in one place, I have a constituency I am representing and I have been lamenting about tarred roads, even if it can only be 4 kilometres or 5 kilometres, maybe from Matlagatso up to Mantshwabisi only; maybe it will show that even if the government does not have money, it will show there is a bit of effort.

Since I came to Parliament in 2009 I have been lamenting about tarred roads that please help us by building tarred roads for us. When the tarred roads are there that is how people can grow; right now in my constituency we think we are poor. Why are we poor? The reason is because we do not have roads, even if we wished to do something, a business for example; businesses are the ones which help in the development of a village. Now how are people in my constituency going to develop? How are they going to live better lives because there are no tarred roads there? You cannot even see a single combi because the roads are discouraging them. Oh! Are you not feeling pity enough so that we help those people? What is it that they have done such that they cannot be assisted when other people are being helped Honourable Minister? Mr Speaker, planners can help, we can end this thing of asking ourselves whether the Minister does not build roads in his constituency, whether he does not only look at his constituency alone and ignoring ours. Right now people are asking themselves why a tarred road is being built in Kubung, why Kubung?

HONOURABLE MEMBERS: ...(laughter)...

MR KABLAY: We know that Kubung is part of the Thamaga farming lands, now since you are saying you are only going to put tarmac on roads with heavy traffic, now what could be the matter? Where there is a lot of

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traffic you are not putting the tarmac and where there are not many vehicles that is where you are making tarred roads; where is the sense there? Honourable Minister let the tarred roads …

MINISTER OF INFRASTRUCTURE, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (MR MOLEFHI): Can the Honourable Member state the areas where there is no traffic and yet with tarred road and those with traffic but no tarred road.

MR KABLAY: I do not want to state them because someone might think I am out of order. We were informed that tarred road is constructed where there is too much traffic…

MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS (MR MABEO): On a point of correction. Before construction of tarred roads, there are quite a number of factors that are taken into consideration and that means the involvement of the Ministry of Transport and Communications. Let me further state that we do not construct a tarred road just because there are too many vehicles using that road. I thank you Mr Chairperson.

MR KESUPILE: On a point of procedure. Mr Chairperson, I think it is unfair for the Minister to take so much time of the Honourable Member of Parliament who wants to speak. He will have his ample time to make whatever explanation he wants to make.

MR CHAIRPERSON: No if he stands up on a point of correction I do not have control over what he corrects. Were you finished Honourable Minister? Honourable Kablay you may proceed.

MR KABLAY: Thank you Mr Chairperson. As I have already explained, something needs to be done about that. Back in the days in our constituency, in Letlhakeng we used to start with one lane of tarred road and as traffic continues to increase, the lanes are increased to two. I therefore propose to your ministry that you should adopt the same strategy because we are faced with financial constraints because people need to have tarred roads in their areas. The problem is the explanations that we keep having. I thank you.

ASSISTANT MINISTER OF HEALTH (DR MADIGELE): Thank you Mr Chairperson and the Honourable Minister for presenting this submission before this Honourable House. I support it and I even think they need more funds because it plays a pivotal role in the economy of this country. It is important because it is an enabler of many sectors or every sector of the economy of Botswana.

I would also like to commend the Botswana Fibre Networks (BOFINET) for the continual connection of telephones around the country because they will link us as a country and even the outside world. This will help the economy of the country to link with other foreign economies across the world.

Moreover, I would like to commend the Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) for the initiative of Initial Public Offering (IPO) which is doing well as they continue to update us. We believe everything will fall into place when all has been concluded. You have undergone a tough transition when BTC was privatised and it took longer than anticipated. Now that we are hoping that you will soon conclude on that, there will be no hindrances.

Now on to the issue of post offices, they still play a pivotal role in our villages. In my constituency in Mmathethe-Molapowabojang, it is still a village and the services offered there include pensions for the elderly and delivery of mails. All these services are delivered because there is a post office. Now we would like the same services to be extended to villages like Lorolwane, Metlobo, Gasita, Maokane, Segwagwa and Magoriapitse because they are always complaining of lack of such. Some of the residents have constructed one roomed houses to use as offices but you have discouraged them saying that they are not fit to operate as offices. The Village Development Committee (VDC) now are wondering if they have misused their funds by constructing these houses. So if there is a way you could do it so that we have post offices, kindly facilitate us or refurbish those houses to be offices.

I will quickly get into the issue of construction of tarred roads which a lot of us are not happy about because our villages do not have them. A village like Molapowabojang, they do not have roads, they even sent me the photos of our bridge which we have been using; it has been destroyed by floods. The students have not gone to school, the same to workers because what we have been relying on has been destroyed. We need to be considered for a road that will go through Molapowabojang because this is a big village with a population of more than 10 000 people. We need at least a loop of 10 kilometres which we will be our access road into the village and it will also easy the delivery of services in the village. We also request that you ease the congestion of traffic along the A1 road which starts from Honourable Molale’s constituency. However I am grateful that I have received a letter informing me that you have planned a 12 kilometre road from Kgoro to Gathwane. We request that you increase it with five more kilometres to cover the road from Lorwana to Molapowabojang to connect these villages because now

Hansard No 182 47


people want to use a shorter road to Kanye rather than having to travel through Mmathethe and Magoriapitse. The road that passes through Gathwane and Molapowabojang is nearer to Kanye and it will make delivery of services more efficient. That road could even extend to Kgomokasitwa which is just about 10 kilometres from Molapowabojang. This road could be quite useful as it will connect all the villages in the South and connect the Southern District so that the projects may be run efficiently.

As I continue Minister, let me talk about a road which I am grateful for and which is planned for 2016/2017. Thank you, I believe that the residents of Metlobo, Tswaaneng, Mmathethe are happy to hear that Metlobo-Tswaaneng-Mmathethe –Kanngwe road is planned for 2016/2017. We have complained about this road for a long time. This road is important because it leads to production areas. Minister, that is a farming area, most of the foods that we consume on a daily basis come from Kanngwe, Metlobo, Mosi. This road is going to prove very useful and our economy will improve more especially in the agriculture sector.

We have a road from Motlhalawakgomo, passing through Selokolela, Gasita up to Lorolwane. I have realised that you have included part of it in the Output and Performance-Based Road Contracts (OPRC). This OPRC programme is worrying because it seems slow and therefore we cannot see its track record.

MOTION

ADJOURNMENT

LEADER OF THE HOUSE (MR MASISI): Thank you Mr Chairperson. I humbly request that this House do now adjourn.

Question put and agreed to.

The Assembly accordingly adjourned at 6:00 p.m. until Wednesday 16th March 2016 at 2:00 p.m.

Annex A

2015/16 Recurrent Budget Expenditure Analysis

2015/16 Warranted Provision

Expenditure as at 8th March 2016

% of Budget Spent

2401 – Corporate Services 425 745 620 385 530 989 912402 – Road Transport Safety 134 740 870 116 159 519 862403 – Central Transport Organization 580 521 320 458 213 804 792404 – Telecommunications and Postal Services 11 133 170

8 989 909 81

2405 – Roads Department 538 838 340 513 475 991 952406 – Information Technology 388 556 530 326 462 529 80

Totals 2 079 505 380 1 809 055 384 87

2015/16 Development Budget Expenditure Analysis

2015/16 Approved Budget

Expenditure as at 8th March 2016

% of Budget Spent

09541 - MTC Computerization 2,000,000 1,017,472 5109542 – MTC Fleet Expansion 0 0 009543 - MTC Consultancies 55,000,000 25,225,121 4609544 - MTC Facilities 10,000,000 2,452,468 2509545 - Air Botswana Finances 0 0 009546 - Botswana Railways Finances 0 0 009547 - Bitumen and Trunk Roads Improvements 466,000,000 324,200,147 70

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09548 - Secondary Roads 0 0 009549 - Bridges Construction 286,000,000 37,878,522 1309550 - Weighbridges 0 0 009551 - Transport Control & Road Safety 5,000,000 134,501 309552 - Air Transport Infrastructure 352,000,000 398,898,942 11309553 - Telecommunications Development 370,000,000 417,418,776 11309552 - Botswana Postal Services 40,000,000 40,000,000 10009555 - Development of ICT Facilities 29,682,000 137,179,298 462Totals 1,615,682,000 1,384,405,247 86

Annex B

2015/16 and 2016/17 Recurrent Budget Estimates Analysis



Increase/Decrease as % of Approved

Budget2401 – Corporate Services 400,818,020 420,972,940 52402 – Road Transport Safety 123,962,970 128,264,630 32403 – Central Transport Organization 584,996,220 570,200,820 (3)2404 – Telecommunications and Postal Services 10,200,770 10,725,720

5

2405 – Roads Department 550,821,340 431,717,610 (22)2406 – Information Technology 408,706,060 460,516,470 13Totals 2,079,505,380 2,022,398,190 (1)

2015/16 and 2016/17 Development Budget Estimates Analysis



Increase/Decrease as % of Approved

Budget09541 - MTC Computerization 2,000,000 1,500,000 (25)09542 – MTC Fleet Expansion 0 009543 - MTC Consultancies 55,000,000 34,000,000 (62)09544 - MTC Facilities 10,000,000 0 (100)09545 - Air Botswana Finances 0 009546 - Botswana Railways Finances 0 009547 - Bitumen and Trunk Roads Improvements 466,000,000 398,659,000 (14)09548 - Secondary Roads 0 170,000,000 (100)09549 - Bridges Construction 286,000,000 145,000,000 (49)09550 - Weighbridges 0 009551 - Transport Control & Road Safety 5,000,000 0 (100)09552 - Air Transport Infrastructure 352,000,000 197,200,000 (44)09553 - Telecommunications Development 370,000,000 270,000,000 (27)

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09552 - Botswana Postal Services 40,000,000 15,000,000 (63)09555 - Development of ICT Facilities 29,682,000 84,000,000 182Totals 1,615,682,000 1,315,359,000 (19)

ANNEX C

2015/16 and 2016/17 Recurrent Budget Estimates Analysis

2015/16 Estimated Revenue

Actual Revenue Collection

% Collection

2401 – Corporate Services 95 200 165 272 1742402 – Road Transport Safety 290 705 350 276 022 722 952403 – Central Transport Organization 405 130 130 198 830 287

49

2404 – Telecommunications and Postal Services 7 850 8 187

104

2405 – Roads Department 3 485 590 4 222 699 1212406 – Information Technology 2 620 410 2 244 401 86Totals 702 044 530 481 493 568 69

Hansard No 182 50

HANSARD RECORDERS

Mr. T. Gaodumelwe, Mr T. Monakwe, Ms T. Kebonang

HANSARD REPORTERS

Ms T. Rantsebele, Mr M. Buti, Ms N. Selebogo, Ms A. Ramadi, Ms D. Thibedi, Ms D. Pheko, Ms G. Baotsi, Ms N. Mokoka, Ms B. Pinaemang

HANSARD EDITORS

Ms W. Mbeha,Ms K. Alepeng Ms C. Chonga, Mr K. Goeme, Ms G. Phatedi, Ms B. Malokwane, Mr A. Mokopakgosi, Ms O. Nkatswe

HANSARD TRANSLATORS

Ms B. Ntisetsang, Mr T. Rajane, Ms M. Sekao, Ms M. Rabotsima, Ms B. Mosinyi, Ms V. Nkwane, Ms K. Nyanga, Ms N Kerobale, Ms K. Ben, Ms M. Kagiso, Ms B. Dintwa, Ms T. Bocock

LAYOUT DESIGNERS

Mr B. B. Khumanego, Mr D. T. Batshegi

hansard · hansard no 182 5 t 15 th 2016 answer tuesday 15th march, 2016 the assembly met at 2:00...

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