The Minister said that failure of business to pass the benefits of a strong Pula against the South African Rand has traumatised him over the years. He said chain stores cheat unsuspecting customers, who are not aware of the Pula-Rand benefits.
“I have long been concerned about the operations of big chain stores in the country mostly from South Africa who do not pass the Rand-Pula exchange rate benefit to consumers and rip them off,” Nkate said.
The Pula, which is pegged against a basket of currencies including the Rand and the Dollar has been gaining strength against the Rand. This has led to expectations that retailers would give local consumers the advantage of a strong Pula.
Last month, the government devalued the Pula by 7.5 percent.
“The department of consumer affairs would conduct surprise inspections of the stores in future to check their compliance,” Nkate said.
Over the years, consumers have been cheated by retailers who import goods from South Africa and sell them as if the Pula and the Rand are at par. For example, a commodity imported from South Africa at R100 would sell at P100 or more in Botswana despite the strength of the Pula against the Rand.
The problem is exacerbated by the mushrooming of shopping centres in Gaborone amongst them RiverWalk, Game City and Molapo Crossing, which have branches in South Africa. Consumers who used to travel long distances to South Africa now shop locally as the shops are now available in Botswana.
Nkate said that Botswana should benefit from the strength of the Pula against the Rand and added that punitive action would be taken against cheating stores.
“The chain stores in the country should not make Botswana a colony of South Africa,” Nkate said.
He added that after the surprise inspections, the non-compliant retailers could face stiffer penalties like having their trading licences revoked.
