Chamber of Mines to resume scholarship programme

The Botswana Chamber of Mines (BCM) CEO, Charles Siwawa has revealed that the local mining chapter will resume the scholarship programme that it used to offer to students at the Francistown College of Technical and Vocational Education (FCTVE).

Speaking to The Monitor on the sidelines of the BCM Inter-Mines First Aid Competitions that were hosted by Botash mine here on Saturday, although cagey with details, Siwawa said the BCM will resume the scholarship programme in due course.

Asked when the programme will resume, he did not give details save to say that the scholarship will be back with a bang.

“For now, I will not give you the full details of when we will resume our scholarship programme, but just know that the resumption of the programme will resume in due course. We are currently working on the question you have asked,” an optimistic Siwawa said.

In 2017, BCM and its sponsored students at FCTVE were engaged in a feud after it abruptly stopped sponsoring them due to cash flow challenges in the wake of the cessation of operations by some mining houses in the country.

Then, the mining houses cited low commodity prices amongst a myriad of reasons for their closure. BCM also had to pay its former lecturers at FCTVE their terminal benefits after the lecturers took their matter before the Francistown High Court for redress.

The lecturers took the matter to court and succeeded in getting their half paid salaries and a portion of their leave days.

With a high number of mining companies now in operation throughout the country, the future looks bright for the BCM since it survives on the subscriptions from the mines hence Siwawa is highly optimistic about the future.