Analysis Of The Policies Contributing To Socio-Economic Inequality In Botswana

Introduction

Ever since Botswana became independent in 1966, the state’s economy experienced profound changes attributable to the mining of diamonds. Regardless of its undeveloped state brought about by the colonizer’s little effort in developing the protectorate the country is labelled Africa’s miracle. The state however has challenges mostly faced by underdeveloped countries as not all members of the society benefit from its success. The paper then aims at discussing the policies that contribute to socio-economic inequality in Botswana which are brought about by non-economic features being ethnicity, settlement type, age, gender, race and level of education. People with extreme wealth in urban areas have access to a lot of privileges in the society such as access to clean water, safe sanitation and electricity while the poor have little to none of these privileges. The government then implemented various policies such as poverty eradication, national orphans and vulnerable children care, alcohol levy, youth fund, revised national policy in education and citizen economic empowerment to reduce the inequality gap. These policies are only efficient to some extent as inequality still remains unavoidable. There is then a need for policy reviews to make them more applicable to the contemporary challenges by involving policy receivers in decision making.

Poverty alleviation policy

One of the Vision 2016 pillars called for the eradication of poverty in Botswana which had in the past characterized the country as a whole. A household was classified as poor by the Central statistical Office if it could not afford a minimum standard of living which was measured using the poverty Datum lines (PDL). People in this class were mostly remote area dwellers where there were not many public goods available and households which had a lot of dependents most of which were female headed. This was mostly because men back then went to work at South African mines as a way to provide for their families and pay the hut tax which was mandatory for every household. The government then implemented a lot of policies over the years such as the financial assistance programme (FAP), which provided businesses with grants to encourage production and the creation of employment. FAP however got replaced with the Citizen Entrepreneurship Development Agency which also provided financial support. There was also the Integrated Support Programme for Arable Agriculture (ISPAAD), in which substinence farmers were encouraged to venture into commercial farming so that they were able to sustain themselves and have some source of income from selling their products. There was the introduction of public work “ipelegeng” which is still available today and it is discussed below.

Ipelegeng

Public work got introduced over the years and has been slightly changed as it was re-introduced from a temporary programme to being permanent in effort to create permanent employment for low income earners. Its name has been changed from the drought relief programme “namola leuba” to the current Ipelegeng and the form of payment also shifted from food items to money which made it attractive and it is no longer centralized in rural areas like in the past but is now also in urban areas. The economic success of the state led to it being titled “Africa’s miracle”.

There has however been a lot of critics concerning the policy as almost 6 billion pula has been spent on the programme over the past 10 years. A lot of people have labelled it as wasteful and degrading since the low wages are set so that there could be a lot of job opportunities for people. The work is labor intensive and work activities include litter picking, cleaning streets and cutting grass. Participants are able to meet most of their wants through this programme without heavily relying on others for handouts. The policy helps closes the gap between the poor and the rich as the state’s economic growth mostly benefitted a small minority of the population, with “lack of food on one side, huge waste on the part of the privileged on the other”. Workers then become dignified as they use their labor which is their only asset and they are recognized as workers in the society and have access to credit facilities from small shops. Having a source of income helps boost the economy as low income earners have a very high expenditure which stimulate economic activity. Ipelegeng is however not consistent with the government’s aim of poverty eradication as it only provides relief. It is somehow food for work and is what others may label a dependency syndrome on the government, Siphambe (2003). The policy does not to enable participants to save as they receive a minimum wage of P580 a month on a rotational basis which is not enough to help them start their own businesses. They are also not given medical aid, overtime salary and do not have access to loans as other workers because “pensions and fund schemes do not cover all workers but favor higher earning income employees”.

The policy therefore cannot be used to support any form of entrepreneurial activity that may reduce unemployment. Since the participants also fall outside the qualifying tax payer’s limit, tax payers may also disregard any form of input they have on matters concerning the development of the country.

Revised national policy on destitute persons

This policy was implemented by the Ministry of local government and local authorities. It aims at supporting persons between the ages of 0-18 whom have lost either one or both parents and made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS. Though the term vulnerable may be difficult to define it is not only restricted to children but includes destitute and disabled people. In Botswana, vulnerable people are mostly children who are sexually exploited, handicapped, neglected and those who live in the streets.

Orphans and vulnerable children

The government offers these children assistance in whichever way possible as they are provided with food packages, clothes and have social workers who ensures they are well taken care of. Most children are entrusted under their extended family members care so that they can receive education and health services. The ones left to fend for themselves are usually given up for adoption so that they do not roam the streets begging for food or even stealing to make ends meet. While the policy might have been implemented with good intentions, the beneficiaries are marginalized by adults as well as other children in the society. Some extended family members abuse children especialy those with disabilities physically, sexually or emotionally with the most common case being the child taken out of school or not getting enrolled. In the past such children were hidden and not allowed to interact with others. Children orphaned by HIV/AIDS are also at times left with grandparents and relatives who are either too old or cannot even meet their own childrens needs hence the eldest child may see it fit to take care of the younger siblings.

This not only leads to an increase in child headed families but the children also do not have proper care and access to medical attention because there is minimal or no adult supervision. They are futher treated differently as they have their own special diets and at Berlin, children under the age of 10 years are ussually given free medical attention, this then may lead to an increase in the stigma already associated with the disease. The harsh treatment they receive may futher disrupt their learning capabilities hence the government lowered their minimum tertiary cut off points from the normal 36 points to 32 points, this is only done for orphaned children and not other vulnerable children. Even though this was done as a way of ensuring they futher their studies, the lower cut off points may cause the beneficiaries not to perform to their best abilities which may lower the pass rate of the country.

Alcohol policy

There had been in the past a lot of deaths, gender based violence and high rate of HIV/AIDS infections which were all linked to the harmful use of alcohol. The alcohol levy then imposed by the former President Lt. General Seretse Khama Ian Khama as a way of reducing alcohol consumption in Botswana. According to literature, a levy is an indirect tax imposed on the sale of certain goods which are produced locally. The alcohol levy is uniform, not dependent on the alcohol percentage and the buying patterns of consumers like in other countries such as Australia and United Kingdom. Initially set at 55%, the introduction of the levy came about as a way of reducing Batswana’s alcohol consumption and the immorality caused by its intake. The government also introduced constituency sports tournaments and the fokotsa dino anti-alcohol campaign in an effort to educate people and provide entertainment where there was no use of alcohol. This goal however was not achieved as there was an increase in the alcohol black market which led to the mushrooming of sheebens mostly in low income areas.

Alcohol industries faced a fall in their profits as people switched to low cost beverages such as mokoko o nchebile thus leading to a lot of people being retrenched in effort to cut production costs. Others resorted to buying in bulk after trading hours which had been reduced by the government to 10pm, children and elders were in the process affected by the levy as breadwinners cut off on necessities such as food to increase their alcohol expenditure. This behavior led to Botswana being listed amongst the top 10 countries in Africa with the highest rate of alcohol consumption. The other reason the drinking patterns of Batswana have not changed is because the income generated from the levy was not used to raise awareness about the health repercussions brought about by the use alcohol, but was rather diverted to other social programmes such as ipelegeng. No rehabilitation centers has been built for abusers even though the government does acknowledge the problems brought about by alcohol. These include high crime rates and addiction which often leads to loss of jobs, lives and it also contributes to the spread of HIV/AIDS. The government is not doing enough when it comes to the alcohol problem and it seems like government introduced levies to raise extra revenue for development and not for tackling the root of the problem. The development of this country is to some extent accredited to the alcohol levy which is somehow a hateful tax. It is quite evident that the former governance implemented this levy as a way of punishing alcoholics and not helping them thus the current president decided to reduce the levy by 35% and increase trading hours.

Youth development fund

This policy was introduced due to the need to have equal distribution of wealth and public goods so as to improve the livelihood of the youth. This is achieved by providing financial assistance which is partly a grant and partly an interest free loan to encourage them to start businesses which is necessary for economic growth. The ministry of Youth, sports and culture (MYSC) undertook this as a way of empowering the youth with their target group being people between the ages of 18-35. This has led to the youth’s contribution in the development of this country as the beneficiaries have created employment for other citizens. This has not only slightly decreased the rate of unemployment but it has also encouraged the youth to start feasible income generating businesses. Despite this, the policy’s requirements contributes to socio-economic inequality as it gives preference to only unemployed or underemployed Batswana youth who are also not schooling. This then does not address the issue of unemployment faced the youth who are mostly graduates. Every year thousands of students graduate from tertiary schools and spend years looking for jobs which are also not guaranteed as the government is doing little to create employment. This requirement is then a disadvantage to schooling students as they could have started their business by the time they are still schooling so that when they graduate the business is already up and running.

Students therefore have to wait until they graduate so that they can start their businesses. Employed youth who may have the necessary skills to operate their own businesses are also sidelined as one of the requirements also states that workers should resign if their application for the fund gets approved. This is not only a risk because one may resign from work to start their business only for it to fail but this may also lead to an increase in the already rampant issue of unemployment. Since the beneficiaries are also not schooling, they may lack the necessary skills to run the business as they are only given the fund and not equipped with business management skills and there is little supervision to see how the business is running. The Ministry further limits the type of business one can go into as it does not fund alcohol related projects, night clubs, cash loans, phone shops and any other business not allowed by the law of Botswana. This then leads to a lot of competition as the market become saturated hence there is very little chance of success for businesses owned by the fund recipients.

Revised national policy in education

The revised national policy in education was adopted in 1994 and was implemented by the Ministry of Education and skills development (MOESD) as a way of achieving one of the pillars of vision 2016 of “an informed and educated nation”. It aims at formally and non-formally increasing the equality in education and training, ensures sharing of costs in financing education and to improve the quality of the education system. The provision of free and quality education is a right to all Batswana children as education unlocks a world of opportunities for everyone regardless of their socio-economic circumstances, age, health and their disability which is why it has been termed the key to success. This came about after realizing that “People have unequal access to resources hence they have unequal access to the benefits associated with those resources”.

1. Inclusive education policy

The government then made an investment in human knowledge by making education compulsory to its citizens as it is an important foundation for achieving sustainable development. The policy advocates for everyone: children, young people and adults, to receive basic education and gives people who never got the chance to finish their studies to do so through the distance learning or the out of school service “ thuto ga e golelwe”. Adults can get to complete their studies and proceed to tertiary as mature students and it also helps to mix disabled children with others as much as possible hence they are less discriminated. There are ways implemented to ensure everyone receives education such as the use of braille for the blind, glasses for the visually impaired and hearing aids for those with hearing difficulties which are provided by the government. The “lives of young people should be managed by an educational system, which will be universal, standardized across Botswana, modern in content, and extended in years”. The education policy is however bias against students who are not academically gifted as it does not diversify to other activities such as sports and arts but is only focused on academic excellence. This is mostly seen through the awards given to overall best students who are taken to do their A levels at private schools and thereafter taken to study abroad which makes them globally competitive while best student in sports are only taken as far as national levels “as a result, from this view, teachers should vary their pedagogical strategies in order to cater for the differences in their classrooms”. Foreign students do not receive free education and have to pay higher school fee than citizens as the government can’t afford to cover their full costs. Out of school beneficiaries are also discriminated against because of their age as they are labelled “ancestors” in tertiary schools which may cause many of the adults to not further their studies in fear of being labelled by young people whom are in most cases their children’s peers.

Citizen economic empowerment policy

The policy aims at supporting citizen owned businesses to control resources so that they are able to generate income leading to the equal distribution of wealth so that the lives of citizens can improve. The policy mostly aims at women who receive low income because, the youth who have a high rate of unemployment and people who live in remote areas. This is because “whenever groups or categories of people have lower status in a society they are very likely to have higher death rates and shorter life expectancies than would be expected”. The policy has contributed to the business development in Botswana as citizens are equipped with skills that places them at an advantage of benefitting from the economic opportunities availed to them by the government. There are a lot of policies which have been placed so as to support the economic empowerment policy such as the Localization policy which calls for the employment of Batswana over non-citizens who have the same qualifications. The credit guarantee scheme, which gives grants to loans given by commercial banks to citizen owned small, micro and medium enterprises. Despite this, the policy has its limitations as the government has not been able to develop an environment in which citizens would be able to have greater ownership in the economy due to the dependency on foreign markets especially South Africa. Locals then cannot develop strong national brands as their goods, mostly agricultural products are side lined when compared to imports hence they cannot develop national pride and identity through their products. This is a long shot though as agricultural workers do not earn significantly more than elementary workers hence it is taken lightly more especially by the youth. A lot of tenders are also awarded to non-citizens who also benefit the most from the credit scheme than locals. The policy implementers then need to review this policy so that it can be able work at the citizen’s advantage by the introduction of sanctions and only importing what citizens cannot produce.

Conclusion

Socio-economic inequality is a challenge faced by countries worldwide, Botswana being a developing state also faces inequalities which their reduction have always been the government main priority. The government however has challenges with the policies implemented as a way of giving hope to the vulnerable groups; the uneducated, poor and those in rural areas. They are either sidelining citizens in terms of sex, age, settlement type or the level of education one has reached. His effort to respond to the pressing issues in the society such as poverty and unemployment by the implementation of different policies which somehow add to the already burning issue of inequality. The policies negatives out-weighs their positives creating a need to review them so that they are in line with the government’s obligation to reduce socio-economic inequality.