Category: <span>Regulatory</span>

Attention Botswana Societies: Don’t Miss the Extended Re-Registration Deadline!

The Societies (Extension of registration period for societies) Order, 2024 was published on 23^rd of February 2024. The Minister of Labour and Home Affairs has extended the period for societies to reregister by a period of three months, commencing on the 25^th of February 2024, and ending on 24^th of May 2024, in accordance with the powers granted under the Societies Act.

Need assistance? M&K’s experienced legal team can guide you through the process. Contact us today for a consultation.

On 30 June 2023, the Public Procurement (National Electronic Procurement) Regulations were published. They are aimed at providing a guide on the use of electronic procurement processes. They do so by establishing the National eProcurement System (“the NePS”), amongst other things.

The NePS is intended to be used by procuring entities and bidders to enhance efficiency and transparency in public procurement processes. It will allow procurement documents to be uploaded onto it and allow procuring entities and/or bidders to withdraw and/or amend the documents they have uploaded.

The NePS will also allow stakeholders to have access to, amongst other things, issued tenders, procurement notices, quotation submissions and requests, contract management and e-payment, with detailed descriptions of the relevant tenders. The NePS will also allow a tender to be awarded and the relevant contract signed (whether manually or electronically) through it.

To ensure the security and integrity of the NePS, procuring entities will have to be validated. They will also be required to maintain confidentiality. The NePS itself will provide an end-to-end audit trail which shows the activity of a specific procurement process.

On 28 March 2023, the Minister of Finance (“the Minister”) caused to be published in the Government Gazette the much-awaited Public Procurement Regulations (“the Regulations”). The Regulations apply to all public procurement activities except for those determined by the Minister to require a different procurement procedure. The Regulations clarify the practical application of procurement processes and procedures as read with the Public Procurement Act.  They also provide for, amongst other things, procurement entity structuring, reservations and preference schemes.

On the 29^th September 2022, Parliament passed the Transfer Duty (Amendment) Act No. 40 of 2022, which exempts holders of licenses under the Special Economic Zones Act from paying transfer duty for property acquired for the purpose of carrying on business in the economic zone approved in the license. The amendment shall come into effect on notice issued by the Minister of Finance published in the Government Gazette.

We are proud to announce that on the 9th of September 2022, our Corporate & Commercial Division together with our Real Estate Division, successfully hosted another WIN (What In-House Lawyers Need) event. This was our third WIN event this year and it took the form of an open table discussion. Two (2) pieces of legislation were discussed: the Tribal Land Act (No. 1 of 2018) and the Movable Property (Securities Interests) Act (No. 5 of 2022). The aforesaid acts recently came into effect and immensely impact the landscape which governs the granting of credit facilities and the pledging of security in Botswana.

The discussion on the Tribal Land Act and its implications on the credit facility and security environment was led by Mr Terence Dambe, who is the Managing Partner of the firm and the Head of the Real Estate division. The discussion on the Movable Property (Securities interests) Act was led by Ms Tatenda Dumba, who is a Partner in the Corporate & Commercial division. Mr Victor Chilembwe, a pupil attorney with the firm, facilitated the discussions.   The event was a huge success, and we would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the stakeholders who attended the event and shared their views regarding the two acts.