The government has moved to contain a potentially explosive Botswana Defence Force (BDF) pension dispute involving billions of Pula. Former soldiers are currently challenging the legality of their migration from the old BDF pension scheme to the Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF).
Describing the matter as a “longstanding and sensitive one,” the Minister of State Presient and Justice Security Moeti Mohwasa has urged veterans to exercise patience while Government races to resolve a dispute that has exposed historical administrative failures and potentially serious financial liabilities.
Reports show that at stake is an estimated P4.1 billion required to settle claims from separated BDF members and enhance pension balances for serving members under the controversial n/375 transfer value adjustment.
Mohwasa told Parliament this week that the government has already disbursed P2.7 billion since the programme began while 4,725 of the 5,979 claims processed by the Accountant General and forwarded to National Medical Group (NMG) had been paid by August 14, 2026.
Mohwasa told Parliament this week that the government has already disbursed P2.7 billion since the programme began while 4,725 of the 5,979 claims processed by the Accountant General and forwarded to National Medical Group (NMG) had been paid by August 14, 2026.
The question still remains as to whether thousands of soldiers were unfairly forced out of a defined-benefit pension arrangement and transferred into a defined-contribution scheme in 2001.
Mohwasa said the government-commissioned 2017 actuarial study found that the retirement arrangement had prejudiced BDF personnel because their compulsory early retirement was not properly reflected in the pension calculations.
He said the study concluded that the pension denominator applicable to soldiers should have been n/375 rather than n/600, following the adjustment of the public service denominator from n/720 to n/450 in 1998. A lower denominator produces a higher pension benefit.
Mohwasa said the government subsequently amended BDF regulations in 2024 and backdated the n/375 enhancement to January 1998.
However, the payments have opened another front: the so-called “Forgotten Soldiers.” These retirees say they were moved from the old defined-benefit scheme, where they were already receiving monthly pensions, to BPOPF without their consent.
Mohwasa said that there are currently no records proving that these pensioners consented to the transfer, nor calculations showing their original transfer values.
The minister conceded that it would be “unjust to disadvantage these individuals for these administrative errors”, and has ordered BPOPF to recalculate their transfer values by the end of August.
The minister conceded that it would be “unjust to disadvantage these individuals for these administrative errors”, and has ordered BPOPF to recalculate their transfer values by the end of August.
The dispute has now escalated into litigation. A group of military veterans has sued Government, seeking an order declaring their migration to BPOPF unlawful and demanding their return to the pension scheme prescribed under the BDF Act.
Mohwasa said rather than fight the veterans in court, Cabinet authorised negotiations aimed at an out-of-court settlement.
He said the Government and the litigants agreed that the 2001 transition “might have been irregular” because the peculiar conditions of military service were not adequately considered.
Mohwasa said an independent actuarial assessment by Alexander Forbes Financial Services Botswana has now been commissioned to compare what the affected soldiers would have received under the old BDF defined-benefit scheme against what they received under BPOPF, including the n/375 enhancement.
