According to a press release from the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs dated May 10, 2013, all interns who have been in the programme will continue to earn an allowance of P1, 800 while P200 will be saved and paid up upon completion of service. According to the same communiqu, all those who joined the programme on the April 1, 2013 will earn P1, 420 and an amount of P1, 320 will be paid directly into the interns' accounts and P100 will be saved for interns and will be paid upon completion of service.
The BCPYL is of the view that the decision to reduce the allowance is irrational, untenable and inconvenient. The past few years spike of inflation has pushed low-income earners in Botswana into miserable poverty. The price level of goods and services remains very high and still rising, implying continuously higher cost of living for graduate interns in particular and workers in general. The high cost of living has had a deleterious impact on the quality of life and the well-being of the low income, including the interns. For that reason, government should be coming up with better ways to cushion the effects of rising costs on this category of people rather than exacerbating their already dire condition further.
