Pursuant to the Privatization Policy for Botswana of 2000, the first Privatization Master Plan was approved by Government in 2005. The purpose of the Master Plan was to provide a framework and guidelines for increasing private sector participation in the economy. It identified Public Enterprises that would be privatized through various forms of privatization, namely; divestiture, restructuring, contracting out, commercialization, executive agencies and Public Private Partnerships.

The primary goal of Government’s reforms through privatization was to increase efficiencies in the delivery of public infrastructure and services by effectively increase the role of the private sector in the economy. The development of the Privatization Master Plan included reviewing the operations, activities and performance of public entities. It also involved consultations with key stakeholders and identification of opportunities for private sector participation in services offered by Government so that Government can focus on its core mandate of policy formulation and regulation.

Implementation of the Master Plan of 2005 faced challenges. First, PEEPA lacked legal enforcement power to compel Public Enterprises to cooperate and comply with PEEPA’s findings and recommendations. The other challenge was that PEEPA’s mandate was limited to providing advice on privatization. However PEEPA’s mandated was recently expanded to include leading implementation of approved privatization transactions.

The draft privatization Master Plan is aligned to the National Development Plan 10 (NDP10) and other economic reform strategies of Government such as the BEAC and the Economic Diversification and Sustainable Growth.