All hands on deck for public service

Mmegi Editor | Friday July 11, 2014 12:22

The last piece was on Mokobaxane teachers who are forced to catch kombis and other transport in order to relieve themselves, as their toilets at Mokoboxane Primary School are miniscule.

The common thread in the three tragedies is the failure of the effective transmission of taxpayer funds, through processes, to beneficiaries and the resultant misery of Batswana at the tail end.

Undoubtedly, systemic failures are a large part of the problem government faces in the effective provision of education, policing and other public services. In the New Xade case, for instance, the provision of school uniforms is perennially entangled in tender and procurement inefficiencies.

In as much as central and local government’s systems should shoulder the blame, the private sector is doing this nation a disservice by apathetically watching from the terraces.

The private sector annually reaps billions of Pula in profits from its main customer, government, via procurement, preference and incentive schemes, and even the goodwill created by sound governance and the observance of the rule of law.

In many instances, parastatals are leaned on to raise capital locally, further enriching the local private sector in terms of profit and depth. Central government is also participating in the capital market four times a year via the multi-billion Pula bond issuance programme designed to prop up market players.

Outside of the financial market, industries such as manufacturing, services, agriculture, tourism and utilities would not exist without government support, as was seen during the recession when many closed doors due to tighter government spending.

The private sector needs to remember that government’s ample procurement, its preference and incentive schemes such as the wheat levy and others, are not singularly for the private sector’s profit benefit. They are for Batswana; jobs, growth, economic development and opportunities for Batswana.

In the same light, it is Batswana who suffer when teachers catch kombis to relieve themselves instead of focussing on education, or when married officers are cramped with their single colleagues or when New Xade learners drop out.

The private sector needs to come to the party and intervene with the same enthusiasm some of its members have shown to the President’s Housing Appeal. In this light, Debswana deserves praise for coming to Mokobaxane Primary’s rescue with a P2.4 million donation for infrastructure.

Much as government has its failings, the private sector’s reluctance to put its hand to the plough smacks of the spoilt indifference with which a historic villain said, “let them eat cake”.