My concern emanates from the fact that there is nowhere in the SONA where the informal sector is mentioned, despite the fact that the informal economy has been the mainstay of countless people’s livelihoods in Botswana. The high rate of unemployment has compelled many unemployed people especially the youth and women to resort to informal trading, thus leading to the growth of the informal economy. Given the large number of individuals participating in the sector, it continues to make considerable or significant contributions to the reduction of poverty, the informal sector contributes significantly in employment creation, economic diversification and growth and it contributes significantly to the GDP in many countries.
Statistics Botswana’s 2018 Botswana Multi-Topic Household Survey Report defines an informal sector business as one that is not registered with the registration authority such as Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA), having an informal bank account or none at all, with a maximum number of five paid employees. More needs to be done to ensure that informal workers and businesses are successful as this will in turn foster economic diversification, poverty alleviation, employment creation and economic growth and to advance five of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, being Goal number 1 of No poverty, Goal number 3 of Good health and well-being, Goal number 8 of Decent work and economic growth, Goal number 9 which speaks to Industry, innovation and infrastructure, and Goal 10 which focuses on Reduced inequalities. There is need to provide pivotal support services to informal traders and workers by amongst others assisting with advocacy and representation at critical platforms, transitioning from informal economy to formal economy, promotion of lawful and ethical conduct in business, training workshops and capacity building, market penetration, rescue and recovery plans during times of economic hardships and natural disasters. I applaud UNDP, ILES, DUMA FM, BUAN and the Ministry of Entrepreneurship for the support they lend to the Informal sector, however, more still needs to be done to support civic Organisations that represent informal sector traders.
