Archive for September 11th, 2007
source: BOPA
11 September, 2007
RAMOTSWA Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) has called on land boards to allocate it land on which to build incubators for small entrepreneurs.
Director of SMME Environment Development Services, Mr Pelontle Kebaswele, said they were faced with land shortage to assist their customers who operated under the care of LEA.
Mr Kebaswele pleaded with Malete Land Board when briefing District Development Committee (DDC) about services provided by LEA.
He asked the land board to allocate LEA a piece in Ga-Malete as the agency had opened an office in Ramotswa which caters for Boatle, Lobatse, Mankgodi, Manyana, Mogonye, Otse, Mokolodi, Taung and Ramotswa.
He told DDC that LEA took over IFS facilities to turn them into incubators and put people in to rent with affordable prices.
When their businesses grow within three years, they must be ready to move out and start their own premises then we would accommodate other customers, he said.
Mr Kebaswele said LEAs vision was to be a centre of excellence for entrepreneurship and sustainable SMME development in Botswana.
Through a collaborative cooperation with stakeholders, LEA could achieve their goals and objectives. Key stakeholders like DDC are essential and we could be able to achieve our mandate if we continue with collaboration because there is urgent need to diversify the economy of our country, he said.
Mr Kebaswele said LEA needed to set a platform for others to continue with good projects and address some of Botswanas challenges such as [continue reading]
source: BOPA
11 September, 2007
FRANCISTOWN – Government is planning to put up a 10km buffer zone along the Botswana/Zimbabwe border fence, says agriculture minister, Mr Jonnie Swartz.
He said in an interview that the buffer zone will assist control cattle movement, particularly during outbreaks of diseases such as Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD).
Mr Swartz, however, emphasized that the proposal is still at an early stage and that more consultations with the leadership and communities will be carried out.
He stated that FMD remains a problem and that all cattle that cross the border into Zimbabwe will be killed when they return to Botswana.
The interview followed Mr Swartzs tour of the border fence from Maitengwe to Tuli circle to find out problems encountered by employees of his ministry.
He was accompanied by MPs, including Mr Kavis Kario and Mr Nonofo Molefhi from Selebi-Phikwe, Mr Shaw Kgathi from Bobonong, Mr Tshelang Masisi, Mr Khumongwana Maoto, as well as Mr Phandu Skelemani from Francistown and Mr Pono Moathodi from Tonota.
Director of Animal Production and Veterinary Services, Dr Musa Fanakiso informed them that movement of livestock in the buffer zone will be [continue reading]
source: BOPA
11 September, 2007
LOBATSE – Botswana Meat Commission (BMC), has made an additional P7.1 million from the sale of green unfleshed hides. The abattoir has not made such sale in the past two years.
BMC Chief Executive Officer, Dr Motshudi Raborokgwe, noted in the commissions 2006 annual report that the local market has thus made a significant contribution of P88.9 million to the turnover.
Dr Raborokgwe described this as a good improvement compared to the P63.5 million contributed last year. This market has an advantage of contribution from across the entire products range, he said.
He said despite the challenges presented by the outbreak of the foot and mouth disease outbreak in the Bobonong area resulting in the closure of the two abattoirs at the end of April, the BMC managed to operate successfully.
He said the past year ended on a high note with a lot of cattle killed in the last six weeks of the year. The end result was that for the first time in ages, the year ended with a lot of stock either in stores or on the high seas to Europe, he said.
We therefore had products to sell in [continue reading]
source: BOPA
11 September, 2007
GABORONE – President Festus Mogae was among the people who attended the Telugu Association of Botswana cultural evening held at The Learning Centre on Saturday.
The event was aimed at enlightening people about the history and culture of Telugu.
The chairman of the association, Mr Shyam Sreekaram, said as much as people interact and adapt to new things it was important to remember ones background and be focused on the future.
Mr Sreekaram said ones roots were important, hence his association decided to the culture of its members with other people.
He said his association, a Hindu one, also offered some services to the disadvantaged.
He said Telugu Association of Botswana had established Sai Medical Centre opposite The Learning Centre which operated on Sundays, offering free medical service between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Mr Addanki Gopalakrishna, a member of Telegu association, told BOPA that the organisation intended to improve peoples lives.
He said the association was devoted to [continue reading]
source: allAfrica
Business Day (Johannesburg)
11 September 2007
Posted to the web 11 September 2007
Lesley Stones
Port Louis
Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri has confirmed that no undersea cables will be allowed to land in SA and provide cheaper broadband unless they are majority owned by local investors.
The insistence that South African or African investors own a controlling share may mean two planned cables will not be allowed to land without changes to their ownership.
The Seacom cable due to link SA to Europe has yet to name its investors, but an agreement for the new fixed-line operator, Neotel, to operate Seacom’s landing station will not be sufficient to impress the government.
Whether the rival $235m Eassy cable planned for Africa’s east coast will win permission to dock will depend on the final guidelines that Matsepe-Casaburri is compiling.
Telkom, Neotel and MTN together own 27% of the 10000km Eassy cable.
But that will only be sufficient to let it dock in SA and give the three operators the bandwidth they are paying for if [continue reading]
source: SW Radio Africa
By Henry Makiwa
10 September 2007
Zimbabwe’s main labour union, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) said on Monday that Robert Mugabe has pushed them into staging a two-day strike next week, following his Presidential decree barring wage increases.
Mugabe banned all pay rises late last month and handed himself extra powers in a new bid to curb the world’s highest inflation rate. The move was received with resistance by the ZCTU, which has pencilled in a countrywide two-day job boycott for September 19th and 20th.
ZCTU President Lovemore Matombo said the labour union would from now on mount more drastic protests, as Mugabe’s decree smacks of “authoritarianism at its worst.”
He said: “Never in history have we had a leader instituting presidential powers to freeze workers’ wages. Even the worst of dictators only use decrees where there are [continue reading]
source: Mmegi
MONKAGEDI GAOTLHOBOGWE
CORRESPONDENT
President Festus Mogae Friday night assured investors that his government would continue to do its best to create an enabling environment for business.
He was a guest speaker at the 10th anniversary of Metropolitan Botswana held at Phakalane on Friday night. He said government is currently engaged in self-appraisal with a view to making the system a facilitator rather than an impediment to business.
Mogae said that over the years government has been able to come up with various reforms that made it possible to host a wide range of company operations. “Reforms such as the setting up of the International Financial Services Centre, foreign exchange liberalisation and the enactment of facilitator legislation have gone a long way towards making Botswana a credible investment destination.
We will continue to do whatever it takes to remain business friendly,” Mogae said. President Mogae also challenged the private sector to [continue reading]
source: allAfrica
Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)
7 September 2007
Posted to the web 10 September 2007
Gaborone
In 1969 a group of companies merged to start a fund that would assist their employees with basic medical costs.
A year later Botswana Medical Aid Society was registered under the societies’ Act, as a non-profit making organisation. The society is now affectionately known as BOMaid.
By its origin, BOMAID is a member-owned fund, hence all funds generated from subscriptions are for the sole purpose of helping members defray medical costs. Any profits made are re-invested to sustain the fund in the long term.
” The Medical Aid You Can Trust” Through prudent management and sound financial standing, Bomaid has over the years successfully established itself as the medical aid of choice for health care peace of mind. The mission of BOMaid is to provide competitive and diverse healthcare funding through innovation and in line with the changing needs of all stakeholders.
CELLaid
In the advent of fast-growing technological development, and as part of continuing efforts to deliver on its mission, it was only [continue reading]
source: Mmegi
MONKAGEDI GAOTLHOBOGWE
CORRESPONDENT
An input in President Festus Mogae’s speech by former Metropolitan Botswana managing director, Limited Nkani resulted in embarrassment for the company during its 10th anniversary celebrations at the Phakalane Golf Estate on Friday.
The President’s original speech was supposed to pay tribute to the company’s citizen empowerment initiatives, especially the re-location of many of its functions that were previously carried out in South Africa to Botswana.
Mogae skipped that part and instead told the company management something else. He said that Nkani, who left Metropolitan Botswana under a cloud early this year, told him that the company was still being run from South Africa.
The hall went cold as Mogae hit out. “Straight talk breaks no friendship. Your last CEO told me that this was the contentious issue when [continue reading]
source: SW Radio Africa
By Lance Guma
10 September 2007
Teachers under the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) went on strike Monday, pressing government for a 500 percent salary hike. A heated meeting last Thursday at the unions Harare office resulted in the decision to down tools. On Monday teachers in Harare reported for duty at their respective schools, but soon after clocking in refused to teach. PTUZ Harare Provincial Chairperson Jacob Rukweza said this will be the strategy for the time being until the strike builds momentum. Since last week Tuesday to Friday the teachers have been on a go-slow to press for their demands and the union has upgraded the action to a sit in.
Teachers want salaries currently pegged at Z$2,9 million to be increased to Z$15 million a month. Although they received a salary hike the last time they went on strike in February, the increments have since been eroded by inflation leaving them worse off than before. The larger Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA) has [continue reading]
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