Batswana want budget to focus on health sector
Phatsimo Kapeng | Friday January 29, 2021 16:35
Pearl Bante, 27, airtime stall owner
The budget speech should be made in such a way that it addresses the issues affecting Batswana, looking at the fact that we are currently faced with the COVID-19 pandemic. The budget allocation should abandon the traditional criteria of allocating funds and prioritise the needs of the people in the current circumstances, which I believe means funds should also go to empowering the youth.
Thuto Fox, 26, Bible Life Ministries
My interest will be on how the government intends to diversify the revenue generation sources to deal with the country’s deficit as we are seeing there is a projected tax increase soon. There is a need for initiatives aimed at helping the youth and the unemployed to generate an income to overcome the effects of the pandemic. Looking at how money had been distributed in the past, a lot of money has been directed at the education sector but currently, we need more money for business and enterprise development through initiatives like the Youth Development Fund, CEDA and the like. Besides the business sector, I believe the health sector should also be prioritised to save the lives of those affected by the pandemic.
Gaboitsewe Olefile, 33, informal sector
I believe that if we look at the economy of our country, the budget speech should halt some government projects to effectively manage finances, as the country has not been able to effectively generate revenue. The Ministry of Health should get priority when allocating funds to help the Ministry address the pandemic. Many Batswana have lost their jobs this year and in the past year as well, which is why I believe the government should negotiate with and also assist the private sector to avoid an increase in the unemployment rate.
Malcolm Mphinyane, 48, farmer
The first thing that we should focus on is the fact that we are in the middle of a pandemic, which is why I believe that most Batswana are expecting to see the initiatives by the government to combat the pandemic. With the focus on the pandemic, I believe that we will be looking at how the government will also be helping companies that have been affected by the pandemic, but we cannot neglect the issues that we are also facing like unemployment. This is not the first pandemic we have faced as a country. We had HIV/AIDS in the past, but that did not mean we abandoned our everyday concerns to solely focus on the pandemic. In terms of how the budget speech has been addressing the sector within which I operate, I believe the government has made great effort to invest in the agricultural sector, but there are concerns on the delivery of initiatives.
Kgololo Shianyana, 27, self-employed
I am expecting that the government will put a priority on the health sector because looking at the situation with the coronavirus, a lot of people have been affected by the pandemic. And I also believe that they should also focus on employment creation more especially for people in the informal sector and those who have lost their jobs. I know that last year’s budget speech also had a huge focus on employment creation, but I believe this year they can try to dedicate more resources to that. I also want to point out that I do not believe the budget speech has been addressing our sector. Though last year we had the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development come up with initiatives that could have applied to our sector, these never came to fruition largely due to the pandemic.