UDC gov't embarks on a top-level 'restart'

Innocent Selatlhwa - Mbongeni Mguni | Wednesday August 6, 2025 12:03

The boards of the Gambling Authority, Botswana Development Corporation, Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency, Local Enterprise Authority, and Copyright and Intellectual Property Authority have reportedly been dissolved in a top-level 'restart' by the government.

Several authoritative insiders confirmed the latest developments to The Monitor yesterday, noting that the moves were in line with a government-wide shake-up mandated by the new Botswana Economic Transformation Programme.

The affected boards are under the Ministry of Trade and Entrepreneurship, which has the highest number of State-Owned Entities (SOE) and is the focal point of the government’s plans to reform the parastatal sector.

“Assistant Minister Baratiwa Mathoothe addressed the chairpersons of the affected boards on Monday morning. “He told them that the move was not in any way vindictive, but just that they wanted to reset things and start on a clean slate with new boards,” a highly placed source revealed.

It is said the board chairs expressed their understanding and were also told that letters would follow.

Contacted for comment, Mathoothe would not field any questions from The Monitor and referred this publication to the new Permanent Secretary, Joel Ramaphoi.

Ramaphoi, however, would not be dragged into the matter, stating that it was still on the minister’s desk and that he was not in a position to discuss it.

The latest developments come after President Duma Boko pledged a revival of SOEs, pledging in June that there would be “big changes” to come.

“We shall undertake a re-organisation of many of our institutions,” he said during a televised meeting with the CEOs of SOEs. “We shall do so not recklessly nor haphazardly. “To undo and repair damage done to our institutions can’t be attained in an instant. “We must focus on what is right, not what is easy and convenient.”

He added, “Most of our SOEs have underperformed and continue to be a burden on the government. “This state is unacceptable. “In the past, appointments were not on merit and competence but on affiliation; this has been a problem, and that is why we must focus on merit in our appointments.”

Parastatal reform has long been a thorn in the side of government, as the country has 62 SOEs, which, for the most part, are either financially failing or underperforming in delivering their mandate, or both.

This year, parastatals are due to receive the bulk of the P16.2 billion set aside for grants and subventions in the 2025–2026 budget, a massive figure given that many are legally required to run as “going concerns”, meaning they should meet their costs from their revenues.

Whilst a good number of SOEs are not required to operate commercially or as “going concerns”, many that are required to do so are loss-making, weighed down by operational inefficiencies, lack of strategic direction, and over-reliance on government support.

This is despite the fact that many enjoy legislative monopolies in their areas of focus, such as electricity and water.

Additionally, many SOEs suffer from governance weaknesses, with a recent study indicating that 31 out of 45 SOEs that were examined were non-compliant with the prevailing codes of corporate governance.

Just 14 out of the 45 SOEs were compliant with the King III or King IV codes of corporate governance, whilst only 19 had provided requested responses to a Public Enterprises Evaluation and Privatisation Agency Corporate Governance Framework.