Co-operative to provide loans to government workers

MONKAGEDI GAOTLHOBOGWE
Staff Writer | Thursday May 23, 2013 00:00

 

The Botswana Public Officers' Savings and Credit Cooperative Society Limited was registered in July this year with over P9 million in its bank account. It has registered some 4,500 members and is still targeting more in the 125,000-strong civil service workers force. The cooperative is meant to protect government workers from high interest rates charged by local banks and taxes charged on savings by banks.

It will give loans to public workers at low interest rates and flexible payment terms. The cooperative is based at the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM). The move is likely to hit hard on the earnings and profits of local banks where civil servants who constitute the majority of workers in Botswana, have various loan schemes.

The establishment of the cooperative at the DPSM may also be indicative of support from the top. Sources say the government has been toying with the idea of provision of loans to its employees at low interest rates and the birth of the cooperative would enable the Ministry of Finance to inject some cash for this purpose.

The loan repayment period for the cooperative range from two to six years with room for extension. The cooperative will cater for emergency loans and pay annual dividends to shareholders. Currently, shares in the cooperative are sold at P1. Members can own as many as 500 shares, but the society is determined to guard against monopoly and will restrict shares.

The cooperative, like any legal entity would also have powers to borrow, invest, own assets and hire its own workers. However, there are concerns from the interim management of the cooperative society that awareness is low among civil servants, largely due to the fact that senior officers are slow in disseminating information.

The AGM of the cooperative at Sebele, where the DPSM director Carter Morupise was to be the guest speaker, had to be postponed after it was learnt that not many workers were aware of it.