Botswana Public Employees Union (BOPEU) president Masego Mogwera says preposition by government that its principal role is not to create jobs is simply relinquishment of state responsibility. She was reacting to the Budget Speech on Wednesday which Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Kenneth Matambo, had delivered two days earlier. In the speech, Matambo had clarified that the principal role of government is not to create jobs directly, but to provide a conducive macroeconomic environment to facilitate the development of the private sector. Ironically, a year before Matambo had stood before Parliament and said efforts will be made to ensure that government expenditure, whether under recurrent or development budget, contributes to job creation in the country. He had noted that some of the economic activities with potential for creating employment opportunities included infrastructure backlog eradication, road networks and maintenance, wildlife and tourism initiatives and creation of Special Economic Zones, among others. It is for this reason that the labour union believes the 2017/18 budget speech statement on the role of government in job creation and the 2016/17 budget speech employment creation strategies are a big contradiction. Mogwera said the latest stance by government on job creation further violates the spirit…