What's in Matambo's briefcase?

| Wednesday May 1, 2013 00:00

Lesego Aghmed Tshepo Keaketswe: I only expect him to tell us that the economy has not improved since our main mineral export is not doing well in the market. I also expect them to increase funds to help in youth and citizen empowerment... re lora salary hike(public officers)...

Kehumile Kgomo: Ke solofetse gore Botswana e anamise motlakase wa Morupule.

Kaykay DTwizzy: Next year it's a year of elections. Maybe, just maybe, expect an increase in the public servants salary. Or a promise to increase the public servants salaries

Solomon Batsietswe: Nothing new as usual, moreso that the issue of salaries for public servants won't be covered as it is to be discussed by the Public Service Bargaining Council first. The Budget Speech is sort of labourious, especially that the majority of Batswana don't understand the English language used. To many Batswana it is a thing for some people.

Dennis Thomas:  Infrastructural development with a budget surplus forecast. There is hope for infrastructure development, especially on our roads in many villages and peri-ubarn areas. Poverty eradication will remain top on the list because it really remains government's responsibility to try and empower the less privileged in society. Government should come up with more productive initiatives to address youth unemployment. With a surplus, more jobs are expected from the private sector in a bid to have a private sector led economy!

Itumeleng Thato Peter: More money will be allocated to poverty eradication projects!

Oabile Redd Molobe:  Nothing much. Botswana needs to try and reduce dikoloto tota. Increase di loan ko bo CEDA kwa re adime madi sentle. Mo ga nyeletso lehuma ga go bereke. Nna gape ke batla go utlwa ka this back to school thing, how long is it going and where is the money coming from?

Hikanotes Sphetlhas Maharaji Ditlhase: I think our education needs much (treatment) in that speech.

Mothusi Salt Chabaya: I think we have recovered slightly from the financial meltdown. This is the time to tell us something better like the promise of public servants salaries, increment of students allowance because botshelo bo thata. Obviously unemployment - this has become Botswana's fashion.King Busta Modric Marakalala: The government won't start new big projects but would rather spend to finish the shoddy work done by Chinese companies. Money allocated to Namola Leuba will increase as more Form 3 students who have been 'failed' by the new system at BEC will enroll on the programmme - a pat on the back for the 'Poverty Eradication programme'. Eish mara this government of ours has a good sense of humour in these hard times.

Isaac Vandro Dambe: First of all, we need a detailed overview on how the government seeks to address the escalating cost of living (commodity prices continue to rise) while the salaries of public servants have been stagnant for at least six years.  Secondly, how the impending shortage of water and electricity are going to be addressed. Thirdly, does government have other feasible and sustainable programmes to combat poverty? The existing ones such as Ipelegeng and backyard gardening are not sustainable, why? How can you eradicate poverty with a mere P400 while everything is expensive? Secondly, backyard gardening uses water, which the said government of Botswana has put stringent measures on to control its usage. The Water Utilities Corporation continues to charge high prices for its commodity so we would love to hear how they are going to help the beneficiaries of backyard gardening with water. The living allowance for tertiary students is at a paltry P1 420 while transport fees, rental charges, food prices have hiked considerably over the years and thus rendering P1 400 ineffective to sustain us as some of us don't have parents who can assist us.

Chaf L'more Livingstone: Nothing new but heartbreaking news as usual, NO SALARY INCREASE FOR CIVIL SERVANTS. And I don't think he will have anything to offer regarding infrastructure since there are a number of projects outstanding from the previous financial year(s) e.g roads and stadia that date back to as far as 2010. He will probably try to emphasise how govenment is planning to rejuvenate the economy by putting more money in the fight against FMD and the beef industry. He is going to struggle when it comes to unemployment reduction, considering the fact that most companies are laying off employees due to the impact of the global economic crunch, which they seem not to be recovering from. One area that I think is of interest is how the government plans to deal with economic crime. We are yet to see OP getting the lion's share of the budget with most of it going to security services. He will as well be forced to articulate new strategies that government  aims  to pursue in reviving the education system given the national outcry over the recent poor JC results.

Kabelo Matthews _@kab45m: One would hope for new spending on projects but Matambo has no new ideas so we don't expect much for 2013.

Kelly Ramputswa _@MsKelsDJ:  The budget will reflect hopefully a positive economic performance and future expenditure and budget legitimacy(for more on the responses please get to www.facebook.com/MmegiOnline  or  follow #BWBudget2013 by @MmegiOnline on Twitter)