ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some of the mechanisms used by the Botswana state to secure "favourable conditions" for capital accumulation in the postcolonial era. This included formulating a wages policy that made Botswana a low wage economy. The consultant’s terms of reference were: To study the structure and level of salaries, in Botswana, and to draft a long term wages policy, consonant with the National Development Plan. The wages policy should include criteria for establishing recommended wage structure, minimum wage levels and wage differentials. The 1972 White Paper advised that if the proposed wages policy was to be enforced according to government’s wishes and intentions, there was a vital necessity to monitor its implementation and to establish machinery to coordinate and elaborate the policy in all its details. To this end a tripartite structure, the National Employment, Manpower and Incomes Council, was created.
