The winter sitting of Botswana’s 13th Parliament officially concluded on Friday 15 August 2025, wrapping up a busy session marked by the adoption, commencement and publication of several significant pieces of legislation. We hereby provide a round-up of laws which are expected to impact your business operations and shape the broader legal landscape in Botswana moving forward.
New Dawn in the Financial Services Sector!!
The Banking Act
The Banking Act No. 8 of 2023 came into force on 15 August 2025. The Act repeals the 1995 law, ushering in a modern, risk-based framework with a particular focus on governance. It codifies many long-standing guidelines, providing legal clarity and certainty. Key changes:
- broadens the scope of regulation by including deposit-taking institutions and cross border entities.
- strengthens governance by introducing stricter board composition and accountability requirements and imposing clearer duties of oversight and risk management.
- introduces a comprehensive bank resolution framework, designating the Bank of Botswana as the resolution authority with powers to assess banks’ resolvability and to prepare resolution plans. It provides for the appointment of an official administrator to take control of a failing bank and generally introduces a suite of internationally recognised resolution tools. There is an emphasis on systemically important banks, requiring enhanced planning and oversight to ensure their failure does not threaten the financial system.
- embeds prudential requirements in alignment with Basel, and reinforces regulatory standards that conform with IFRS.
- provides for a structured framework for mergers and acquisitions involving banks and deposit-taking institutions.
- establishes an Appeals Tribunal to provide an independent mechanism for challenging regulatory decisions made by the Bank of Botswana.
If you have any questions or require any assistance with regularising your business operations, we are available to assist. Please feel free to contact Onalenna Otlaadisa Diloro at onalenna@otlaadisa.law , or email our team at info@otlaadisa.law. You can also contact us on our office line at +2673111072.
Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2025
The Bill intends to strengthen the country’s judicial framework by establishing a Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court will be vested with exclusive and final jurisdiction to deal with the fundamental rights and freedoms detailed in the Constitution and any other fundamental rights as found in any other law, matters concerning membership of the National Assembly, election petitions, final determination of the constitutionality of Acts of Parliament and interpretation, enforcement or adjudication of matters relating to the Constitution.
Key Takeaways:
- Currently: the Court of Appeal is the final court for all matters (including constitutional).
- Proposed Constitutional Court: the Court of Appeal remains final for non-constitutional issues. The Constitutional Court becomes the final authority on all constitutional matters.
The Bill, if adopted, will fundamentally change the legal landscape in Botswana. It is currently still undergoing the necessary legislative processes for adoption into law.
The Employment and Labour Relations Bill
The Bill repeals and re-enacts the Employment Act and consolidates all employment and labour related laws. The most significant changes include:
- introduction of fundamental rights and protections, including prohibition of discrimination, violence and harassment in the workplace and entrenching the freedom of association for workers;
- revision of leave entitlements including the introduction of hospitalization leave, family responsibility leave, adoption leave and paternity leave. The bill also increases maternity benefits and allowances;
- introduction of protections during probation, limiting it to six months and restricting terminations unless certain conditions are met;
- introduction of restrictions on fixed term contracts, which are to be limited to 12 months except in circumstances detailed in the Bill; and
- introduction of the presumption of employment where certain factors are present, such as being under the direction and control of the other person, being provided with tools and where the person renders a service to a single person or entity.
The Bill was passed by Parliament but is not yet in force.
Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2025
The Bill seeks to modernise the tax framework by ensuring equal treatment across both digital and physical services, thereby promoting fairness and improving compliance in the digital economy. It does this by proposing to amend the Value Added Tax Act to introduce the taxation of remote services and mandate electronic invoicing, amongst others.
Key changes:
- widens the scope of application of the VAT Act to remote and digital services, including cross-border online transactions provided by non-residents and consumed in Botswana. This is intended to align the VAT treatment of digital services with that of physical services, in recognition of the significant growth of digital services in recent times.
- introduces electronic invoicing for VAT collection through the utilisation of electronic fiscal devices, meant to link invoicing with the BURS system for authentication. This change is meant to tighten monitoring and address underreporting of sales.
- introduces a reverse charge mechanism, extending the responsibility of accounting for VAT to recipients of imported services.
The Bill was passed by Parliament but is not yet in force. It introduces significant changes that require detailed regulations and infrastructural support prior to implementation.
Digital Services Bill, 2025
In a move to catch up with the rest of the world, the Digital Services Bill was passed by parliament on 15 August 2025, bringing with it significant changes to enable digitisation across the country. For the legal and regulatory space in particular, the Bill introduces the development and maintenance of an electronic government gazette, and mandates that public bodies shall publish any information meant for public consumption or contribution in an electronic format or platform.
The Bill aims to provide for the regulation of digital services, as well as to enhance the management and promotion of these services.
Key provisions:
- it applies to public and private bodies in the provision of digital services which carry out business into or from Botswana, irrespective of the physical location from which the activity is carried out, with the exclusion of services by or on behalf of the state involving national security, defence or public safety;
- it proposes to take precedence in the event there is conflict between its provisions and the provisions of any other law on digital services. However, the provisions of the bill are subservient to the provisions of the Data Protection Act and the Access to Information Act;
- it provides for certain guiding principles in the provision of digital services, including:
- that digital services shall be developed with a view towards long-term sustainability, adaptability to emerging technologies and minimising the impact on the environment; and
- that public and private bodies should ensure that citizens and businesses are required to provide the same information only once, and the information is to be shared and re-used as necessary, in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act.
- a Digital Services Authority is established, with powers to develop digital service policies and programmes, develop enforcement strategies, undertake research and develop technical and data standards and audit public and private bodies for compliance, amongst others; and
- public bodies are mandated to publish information in electronic format and the e-gazette is introduced.
The Bill was passed by Parliament but is not yet in force.
Cybersecurity Bill, 2025
In a world where cybersecurity is crucial and can cripple economies, the Bill provides for the establishment of structures to promote cybersecurity and capacity building in Botswana.
Key provisions:
- establishes the National Cybersecurity Authority with powers to establish codes of practice, policies and standards for cybersecurity, to monitor compliance, process applications for licences, permits and the like for services regulated under the Bill;
- the Authority shall conduct national cyber- risk assessments of the activities of national information infrastructure owners;
- establishes a cybersecurity multisectoral committee, consisting of nine members appointed by the Authority. Its functions include to assess the effectiveness of policies and measures to combat cybersecurity threats and incidents, make recommendations to the Minister and the Authority for legislative, administrative and policy reforms in respect of matters of cybersecurity;
- provides for the licensing of certain services, including penetration testing, software development, information security risk assessment, incident response and many others. A person shall not provide the cybersecurity services unless they have obtained a licence granted by the Authority. The licences are not transferrable;
- establishes the Botswana Computer Security Incident Response Team, which shall promote cybersecurity and cyber resilience and the protection of the critical information and critical national information infrastructure; and
- classifies certain services as being critical to the functioning of the nation’s security, public order, health, economy and safety, including telecommunications and IT systems, transport, energy, water, financial sector, healthcare and public and e-government services.
If you have any questions or require any assistance with regularising your business operations, we are available to assist. Please feel free to contact Onalenna Otlaadisa Diloro at onalenna@otlaadisa.law ,or email our team at info@otlaadisa.law. You can also contact us on our office line at +2673111072.