Disclosing the figures during a full council meeting this week, the northern city mayor, Godisang Radisigo, stated that since 2019, the LEA client portfolio in their jurisdiction increased from 44 to 373.
“This portfolio depicts 41% of clients in the services sector, 35% in manufacturing, 15% in agriculture, and nine percent in tourism. “The resultant turnover for the past five years increased tremendously well and this is a sign of economic growth and resuscitated SMME participation,” he said.
The mayor indicated that turnover recorded from LEA clients over the period under review grew from P30 million to P240 million. He partly attributed the growth in turnover and business activity amongst LEA clients in the city to intensified government spending that happened at the height of the COVID-19 era between 2020 and 2021.
“In the same period, major contributions towards import substitution were from the manufacturing sector and the agriculture sector aided by the import restrictions on horticulture products of the last two years. “The value derived from products targeting the reduction of the import bill rose from P1.5 million in 2019–2020 to P29 million in 2023–2024. This is a very significant and impressive increase,” he said.
Radisigo added that figures show that the government’s decision to impose an import ban on some vegetables is to some extent effective. In January 2022, the government imposed an import ban on a list of vegetables such as tomatoes, carrots, beetroot, potatoes, cabbage, lettuce, garlic, onions, ginger, turmeric, chilli peppers, butternut, watermelons, sweet peppers, green mealies, and fresh herbs.
The moratorium was recently renewed, with more vegetables added to the list.
The ban has been widely criticised by some consumers who are of the view that it has led to demand exceeding supply, leading to price hikes. The import ban has also caused tension between Botswana and South Africa. The latter feel that the ban has negatively impacted the growth of its horticultural sector. In addition, SA argues that the ban undermines regional trade agreements and could harm the broader goal of fostering economic integration in the SADC region.
Meanwhile, Radisigo told the council that there is still a challenge of low submissions of loan applications to the Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency's programmes. He said that this is despite numerous calls to eligible businesses to make the submissions that scale up their ventures to boost economic activity in the city.
