Private school fees and unbridled deregulation

About two years ago, the Member of Parliament for Francistown South, Wynter Mmolotsi, successfully tabled a motion calling on the government - in consultation with stakeholders - to develop a mechanism for regulation of fees of private educational institutions.

Although most Cabinet Ministers opposed the motion, it was eventually adopted. Sadly, the adoption of the motion only meant that it joined the many others that passed by Parliament that are gathering dust and cobwebs somewhere at Government Enclave where there is sufficiently little human activity for spiders to extrude and weave silk from their spinnerets. This is so because in Botswana, the Executive decides when to implement motions adopted by Parliament, even whether or not to do so. Some of the motions passed by this August House have hosted spiders and their webs for donkey years. Accordingly, in the thinking of certain cynical denizens of Government Enclave, there is nothing wrong with Mmolotsi’s motion being consigned to the same fate.