When presenting the budget speech, Minister of Finance, Peggy Serame said in a view to sustain the livelihoods of people, the ministry is currently reviewing the list of items that are Zero rated for VAT purposes. She added that the list will be extended to include among others sanitary products and private medical services.
Serame said the zero rating of goods will extend to goods such as sanitary pads, baby diapers and infant formula. An economist and managing consultant of SPECK Dynamics, Sennye Obuseng told Mmegi that the decision to consider exempting VAT from sanitary products is a forward-looking move by the government. He stated that the minister deserves a pat on the back for the decision more especially when the minister mentioned that they will even review items which are already Zero VAT rated in order to determine if they should continue or be removed from the list. Speaking from a policy perspective, the economist indicated that the policy is attainable and will better the lives of women more especially in rural areas as it will improve accessibility of sanitary pads. He spoke about how such policies play a role in improving the standard of living for people. For instance, the government decision to reduce tax from 14 to 12 percent for commodities such as cooking oil was helpful in terms of mitigating inflation, he added. “The war between Russia and Ukraine affected the global supply chain leading to an increase in prices for different commodities including oil and gas and the government made an adjustment of VAT in order to make a difference in the livelihoods of the people,” he added. Even though there were complaints that most retailers were marking up their cooking prices despite the VAT relief measures, Obuseng believed that the move still reduced cooking oil prices to be affordable .
Therefore, he believed that including sanitary products to be Zero VAT will relieve many as the sanitary pads will be more low-priced and accessible to many. For her part Botswana National Front Women League (BNFWL) president Bonang Nkoane said that exempting VAT from sanitary products is a good development. She said that if the policy is implemented sanitary products will be affordable. “We have been advocating that sanitary pads should be free for the girl child because menstruation is not a choice hence there is a need to support a girl child in that regard,” added BNFWL president. She indicated that the BNF has been advocating for the government to provide free sanitary pads in schools and to the disadvantaged women mostly residing in rural areas. Nkoane stated that most of Batswana are struggling as they continue to fail to make ends meet and some can not even afford to purchase a packet of sanitary pads. The same poor households are mostly led by women, therefore provision of free sanitary pads will lift a little burden on their shoulders,she added. The BNFWL president also said that women who hold positions in Cabinet or leaders in general should be pushing for such policies of provision of free pads to be implemented. In July 2022, BNFWL conducted a sanitary pads drive in different communities with a view that pads should be provided for free and keeping all girls in school and women dignified.
Despite the government interventions, they have been debates and people pushing for the government to offer free sanitary pads to girls and women.
In addition, the same debates led to critics towards the government for providing free condoms instead of other necessities such as sanitary pads. Furthermore, it was debated that having a menstrual cycle is an expense that multitudes of women can not afford leading to many girls missing schools each month due to lack of sanitary pads. According to the UNESCO,Puberty Education an Menstrual Hygiene Management report ,one in 10 girls in Sub-Saharan Africa misses school during their menstrual cycle.Similar studies by World Bank Group have estimated that a girl loses 20 percent of a given school year due to their menstrual cycle, cultural beliefs around menstruation and others. In 2017, Botswana Parliament adopted a motion by Member of Parliament (MP) for Nata-Gweta Polson Majaga which called for the government to consider providing sanitary pads to all schools in Botswana.
The motion was accepted by most of the MPs arguing that the provision of sanitary pads at schools is long overdue and would contribute immensely to proper school attendance for a girl child.
