The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) urges the government to learn from mistakes of the past, which we as a former ruling party acknowledge, and act more wisely for the public good. We note the declaration of September 29th, 2025, as a public holiday in celebration of our recent athletics victory. While we fully recognize and celebrate the achievements of our athletes, we are deeply concerned about the economic and procedural implications of declaring abrupt national holidays in the current climate.
Botswana’s economy is still struggling to regain full momentum. Declaring sudden holidays, especially those not embedded in economic planning frameworks, disrupts business continuity, weakens investor confidence, and stalls critical national operations.
In this particular case, the declaration results in a virtual economic shutdown of nearly six days;
• 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟔𝐭𝐡 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 (when most organisations close early before the Independence weekend),
* 𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 (non-working days),
* 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟗𝐭𝐡 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 (Public Holiday),
* 𝐓𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟑𝟎𝐭𝐡 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 (Botswana Day),
* 𝐖𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 (public holiday and travelling back to work stations to resume normal economic activities.
This paralyzes:
• Cross-bank transfers (local & international)
* Payroll processing for month-end salaries
* Customs and port operations
* Logistics, retail supply chains, and food distribution
* Time-sensitive agricultural and manufacturing processes
* The cumulative cost of lost productivity, delayed payments, and frozen transactions could amount to millions of pula, a cost that directly affects the private sector, government operations, and ordinary Batswana.
𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞
We call on the current government to;
• Resist populist decisions that disregard economic realities.
* Consult stakeholders, including the private sector, before declaring disruptive holidays.
* Consider alternatives such as symbolic recognition, public ceremonies, or a future commemorative day planned within the annual calendar.
* Exercise economic prudence and act in a way that reinforces investor confidence, institutional stability, and policy consistency.
Surprisingly, the President has attempted to abdicate responsibility by suggesting that it was the athletes themselves who “declared” the holiday. Our alternative proposal as BDP is that the President should declare 𝟐𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 each year as National Productivity Day, a day in which all Batswana will draw renewed inspiration from the hardwork of our athletes which has yielded national pride.
The BDP remains committed to sound economic governance and evidence-based decision-making. We believe patriotism is not shown through abrupt declarations, but through policies that protect jobs, stimulate growth, and strengthen national systems, especially during times of economic fragility.
𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐔𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐘:
𝐁𝐃𝐏 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬
