PEEPA Leading Botswana’s Privatisation Effort

The Public Enterprises Evaluation and Privatisation Agency (PEEPA), which oversees Botswana’s privatisation programme, is dedicated to transforming Botswana into a thriving market-oriented economy led by the private sector.

In 2012, PEEPA handled the merger of the Botswana Export Development and Investment Authority (BEDIA) and the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) to form the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC), and the merger of the Botswana Technology Centre (BOTEC) and the Rural Industries Promotion Company (RIPCO) to form the Botswana Institute of Technology, Research and Innovation (BITRI), as well as Botswana Savings Bank (BSB) and Botswana Postal Services (BPS).

Kgotla Ramaphane, CEO of PEEPA, notes that the next major project for PEEPA is the Initial Public Offering of Botswana Telecommunications Corporation Limited on the Botswana Stock Exchange in November. The government will retain a 51% share.

PEEPA has been working to develop a corporate governance framework that will help to improve the performance of remaining government-owned entities. The Agency has facilitated the establishment of new regulatory authorities in different sectors to support the Government with the operations of privatised companies. Kgotla Ramaphane explains, “Safety standards had to be revisited and enhanced. We had to make sure that quality of service was not compromised. More crucially it was important to ensure open competition. It would have been a big mistake to rush privatisation through without first establishing the right regulatory framework.”