Decentralisation Policy key to Councils’ financial autonomy
The Decentralisation Policy has been cited as one of the pillars of success that could enhance the ability to invest by Local Authorities.
Speaking Monday at the opening of the full session, Southern District Council Chairman Thamiso Chabalala called for the speedy finalisation of the decentralisation policy. Both the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development in partnership with Botswana Association of Local Authorities have been working on this policy for some time now.
Chabalala said there is need to expedite the finalisation process, not only for improved and functional governance, but also because “in this case, the semi- autonomous set- up is not much of an enabler”. He argued that local level decision making works best when there is first hand feel of the needs and aspirations of locals and enough room for “spontaneous decision making and development planning”.
He said this goes further to financial autonomy of Local Authorities which could come very handy. “Fiscal decentralisation requires that local governments must control their ‘ own’ sources of revenue in order to reach enough financial autonomy and accountability,” the Council chairman said.
On other issues Chabalala observed that there are a lot of idle land pockets in the Southern District, and said there is urgent need - with the guidance of national government - to target those pockets as “potential options for land densification”.
He advised that the size of government plots are also supposed to be allocated according to the “fit for use basis” instead of having standardised plot sizes which leads to a lot of land being “left idle in those premises”.
He said allocation of land for production purposes and provision of access to agricultural production land is also a problem as indicated in District Development Plan 8 Mid- term Review Local Authorities Key Issues Paper. “This means the District needs to come up with a customized land management plan with clear strategic underpinnings on how land issues will be manipulated to facilitate investment,” Chabalala advised.
Turning to the informal sector, Chabalala said there is need to immediately start proper implementation of the newly- passed Trade and Industrial Development Acts. These were introduced to; Replace licensing requirements with much simpler registration processes for business where there are no health and safety issues; and to Simplify licensing procedures where such are still required.
Chabalala said that government has waived certain small businesses from licensing. He added that concerted efforts such as the convening of Business Pitso were needed to augment measures by Local Enterprise Authority ( LEA) and sister departments in capacitating SMMEs.
Chabalala said that the Local Enterprise Authority in Kanye still strives to find the business community operations enhanced and getting more competitive. Currently, Kanye Branch has more than 50 operating clients and over 100 prospective clients who are being assisted with various interventions. Forty- four ( 44) clients are within the Small and Medium category while the rest are micro.
He said that from April 2020 to end of January 2021 the Branch has submitted 61 business plans valued at P50, 948,771.77 to various financiers. It is expected these will create 100 jobs once funding has been availed. Chabalala said that the combined turnover for all the SMMEs being monitored in the coverage area is P15, 470, 775.91 as at January 31st 2021.
“Of this, a total of P2, 526,459.51 was through the market access initiatives of the branch. The portfolio currently has 233 jobs, 54 of which were created within the year from various expansion strategies being implemented”.
To support the manufacturing sector, LEA began refurbishing the old factory shells ( BEDU Offices) for use as an office and Incubator in February 2021 and is expected to finish by July 2021. The incubator will offer the manufacturing sector an opportunity for growth by providing interventions for incubated clients. Clients will also benefit from subsidized rental rates for their business.