Botswana's richest 'classified information'-Tibone

Staff Writer | Thursday March 18, 2010 00:00

Infact it is categorized as classified information to even reveal the numbers of people that comprise this special group, according to assistant Minister Of Finance And Development Planning, Chance Tibone.

'The question touches on individual rights, private personal matters which could lead to litigation', explained Tibone.He was responding to a question by Lobatse MP Nehemiah Modubule who wanted to know how many millionaires live in Botswana, what their nationalities are, as well as the value of property owned by each of them. He also wanted to know whether there are any former MPs or ministers in this group.  Tibone also said that government does not compile statistics on millionaires or individual persons in general.

When questioned on why government was able to keep statistics on destitute people and not millionaires, the response was that the poor are assessed by social workers.

When pressed on whether or not the Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) could supply such information the minister remained adamant that it was not possible.

Modubule explained to the minister that the intention of the question was not to reveal the names of Botswana's richest, but to see what portion of the population controls the country's economy.