Botswana Privatisation policy approved
Date 10/04/2000
After 2 weeks of debate in parliament, Botswana's much talked about privatisation policy has now been approved. The initial draft white paper was presented to government in July 1998 by the Task Force set up by government, which was headed by D. N. Moroka, former Managing Director BP Botswana. Government had since been preoccupied with last year's general elections. The privatisation policy backed by Cabinet was then presented to parliament a few weeks ago for consideration. Government is to set up a Public Enterprises Evaluation and Privatisation Agency (PEEPA) during the course of this current financial year, whose task will be to produce a master plan of the existing 30 public enterprises and identifying those suitable for privatisation. The master plan is expected to be completed next year. In the meantime, government will "test the waters" with Air Botswana, which is expected to be privatised during this year.