| Minchin Kelly | 0 Comments | Commercial Law, Legal Updates, Regulatory

Data Privacy Week – Take control of your data

The 2024 data protection week is upon us! This year’s theme is “Take control of your data”.

Information is possibly the greatest asset of our generation whether it be personal, non-personal and/or commercial. Therefore, it is paramount that we are aware of our rights in relation to data. In Botswana, the key statutory instrument that regulates data privacy is the Data Protection Act. The Data Protection Act regulates the protection of personal data and ensures the privacy of individuals in relation to their personal data.

In honour of data protection awareness week our Corporate and Commercial Division invites the general public to enquire on anything in relation to data privacy and protections at our offices on the 26th of January 2024.

Know your rights, protect your data.

| Minchin Kelly | 0 Comments | Banking Law, Commercial Law, Family Law, Financial Law, Legal Advice, Legal Updates

Stanbic Bank Botswana Legal Awareness Day

Minchin and Kelly (Botswana) participated in Stanbic Bank Botswana’s legal awareness day held on 1 September 2023. The team was led by Mr. Terence Dambe, the managing partner of Minchin and Kelly (Botswana), and he was accompanied by Gape Khuwa, Victor Chilembwe and Razeena Moorad. Amongst other things, the team presented and offered legal advice on property law to Stanbic Bank Botswana’s staff and the general public.

Stanbic Bank Botswana’s legal awareness was a wonderful opportunity for Minchin and Kelly (Botswana) to collaborate with its stakeholders and the community at large.

| Minchin Kelly | 0 Comments | Legal Updates, Legislation, Property Law

The Transfer Duty (Amendment) Act No. 5 of 2023 came into effect on the 3rd May 2023

The highlights:

  • New tribal land and state allocations are not subject to transfer duty
  • Transfer duty on the sale of property to non-citizens has been reduced from 30% of the value or purchase price (whichever is the higher)  to 10% for any purchase/value up to P2,000,000 and 15% for any purchase/value in excess of P2,000,000
  • The Commissioner General shall use council valuations or appoint a competent and disinterested person to determine the just and fair value of properties in tribal areas
  • With transactions involving immovable property on tribal land, the Commissioner General may at his/her discretion request a valuation certificate executed by a valuer registered in accordance with the Real Estate Professionals Act
  • The amount upon which citizens shall not be charged transfer duty has been increased from the first P1,000,000 to the first P1,500,000 of the total purchase price or value of the immovable property
  • With various transactions which have been exempted from transfer duty under the Act, valuation certificates shall not be required neither will the submission of declarations to the Commissioner General
  • Where value added tax is payable in a property transaction, transfer duty shall be waived
  • Immovable property acquired by a parent of a deceased child who dies intestate without a spouse or child shall be exempt from transfer duty
| Minchin Kelly | 0 Comments | Legal Updates

Legal framework regarding Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in Botswana

PPPs have increasingly become popular in Botswana due to the collaboration advantage between government and the private sector and the recognition that there is a benefit in pooling financial resources, skills and expertise to improve the delivery of basic services to all Batswana citizen. At a Sensitisation workshop on PPPs in 2019, conducted by the PPP Unit under the auspices of the Ministry of Finance, the PPP Unit, indicated that there are 16 pipeline PPP projects to fund infrastructure projects in areas such as water, energy, tourism, agriculture, education and health, priority being given to the maintenance of existing infrastructure. This is in alignment with the Botswana National Development Plan.

In light of PPPs becoming popular in Botswana, the Government of Botswana recognised the need to have a defined regulatory and legal statutory legislation governing PPPs. In previous years, PPPs were guided by a policy, the Public-Private Partnership Policy and Implementation Framework, 2009 issued by the Ministry of Finance (Policy).

Last year, 2021 the Government of Botswana repealed the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act (Cap 42:08) which was geared towards public tenders and replaced and re enacted the new Public Procurement Act, 2021 to explicitly make it vivid that the new Public Procurement Act, 2021 shall apply to all procurement activity including PPPs. This is a welcome development in our law as it prescribes institutional frameworks to be established when procuring PPP arrangements and there is no ambiguity regarding whom can be procuring entity and whether a procuring entity can delegate its functions.

Furthermore the new legislation has empowered the Minister of Trade and Industry (the Minister) to prescribe structural arrangement, procedure and processes relating to procurement activity under PPPs. No timeline has been set regarding these highly anticipated impending PPP regulations to be issued by the Minister.

Authored by Tatenda C Dumba


Partner at Minchin & Kelly
tdumba@minchinkelly.bw