Africa-Press – Botswana. Botswana’s worsening cash flow crisis has left thousands of public servants in limbo after their salary deductions – which include repayments for loans, insurance policy premiums and union subscriptions – recently withheld.
The government has cited a liquidity crunch and failed to remit third-party deductions from workers’ August 2025 salaries, the Botswana Public Employees Union (BOPEU) and other public service unions have said.
The deductions – which include repayments for loans, insurance policy premiums and union subscriptions – form an integral part of employees’ monthly financial commitments.
In a notice to members, BOPEU says it met with senior officials from the Ministry of Finance, the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM), and the ministry responsible for public service on 4 September but no resolution was reached.
So far no solution in sight
“There remains no possibility of resolving this issue due to the cash flow constraints currently experienced by government,” the union wrote.
“This prevents the full fulfilment of this obligation, as the deductions constitute the complete salary of employees.”
According to BOPEU, the Ministry of Finance has requested time to consider mitigation measures, with follow-up meetings scheduled for 22 September and 8 October.
Until then, says the union, many of its institutional services will be constrained, thus limiting support for affected workers further.
Funeral cover premiums
The Botswana Sectors of Educators Trade Union (BOSETU) has a similar notice to its structures membership.
“The union has not received the dues from government that have been deducted from members on behalf of the union through the government payroll system,” it wrote in a notice dated 5 September 2025.
“This will obviously affect union subscriptions, funeral cover premiums and bank loan instalments.
“Following a high-level engagement on 4th September 2025 that included the Honourable Minister in the State President, it became apparent that remittances for the month of August will not take place any time soon.
Service disruptions
“We will, however, be in constant engagement with government, and those within our relationship chain over the matter, in a view to find some remedy. We regret the obvious inconvenience that this is causing to members.”
The crisis has triggered fears of additional bank charges, penalties and service disruptions for public servants whose financial commitments depend on timely remittance of deductions.
It is understood that civil servants had already been bracing for delays in processing their salaries, worrying that the inefficiencies could expose them to defaults on loan repayments and cancelled insurance policies.
Weak diamond revenues
The financial sector, especially banks, insurance companies, are also feeling the pinch, with reports of longer delays in government settling invoices.
Officials blame strained inflows and outflows as the new financial year drives up spending while diamond revenues – long the bedrock of Botswana’s economy – remain low and inconsistent.
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