Tempers flare at BPC briefing

The briefing was organised by Botswana Exporters and Manufacturers Association (BEMA). Tempers started to  rise when the stakeholders were given a chance to ask questions. Despite the presentation that had been made by BPC earlier, the Francistown business community would not accept assurances that BPC had everything under control. Northern Textiles (Nortex) director Mokesh Josh said that his textile has been hard hit by the power outages.

"Why were we not informed in time that this would happen? This came as a total surprise. We have orders to fill and we have no generators, no back-up," he said. Manufacturers fumed at the BPC for neglecting their companies' needs. They all asserted that not having power at the home was bad enough but at the factory it was even worse. Mokesh said that his company consumed 1MW per day but it was the first target when it came to power cuts while mines were left alone.