Masisi relatives' tender trial begins
Sharon Mathala | Monday November 20, 2023 12:32
At the High Court tomorrow, the President’s nephew Olebile Pilane will take the stand to give oral evidence in a case in which he has dragged his aunt and Masisi's sister, Boitumelo Mmutle-Phadi and their business associates to court over a P550 million water tender.
Pilane, in the case, accuses his aunt and their business associates of ousting him from a company he formed and a tender he bid for. The company, which the relatives own, won a joint bid with Tianyuan Construction (Tianyuan) for the construction of the Goodhope Sub-District Water Supply Scheme 2.2 contract for P549,699,654.70.
The battle over the government tender has now exposed the First Family to scrutiny and has even dragged both the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) and the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) into the mess. The First Family's war and greed over government tenders are being exposed in the ongoing court battle initiated by Pilane. “Soon after gaining information that the first defendant had been awarded the tender, the fourth defendant started giving unreasonable and/or unlawful instructions to the plaintiff regarding the execution of the first defendant's business, which the plaintiff declined to implement,” Pilane claims. Giving an example of one such unlawful instruction, Pilane said his aunt asked him to arrange payment from the tender money to the BDP.
“The fourth defendant had inter alia, instructed and expected the plaintiff to arrange for payment of five percent of the Goodhope Sub-District water supply tender contract sum to the BDP, which plaintiff on behalf of the first defendant declined,” reads Pilane's court papers. According to Masisi’s nephew, after refusing to give BDP some of his tender money, his aunt threatened him. Meanwhile, his aunt hit back to say her nephew was imagining things. Denying the instruction Pilane alleges was given to him to donate to BDP, Masisi’s sister says “This is an afterthought meant to scandalise the fourth defendant and Ms Mmutle”.
The disgruntled Pilane is seeking his 40% share of the tender proceeds.
The President’s nephew feels he was elbowed out fraudulently from G&M soon after the P550 million tender was awarded and now he is coming out guns blazing at his aunt and other business associates for allegedly pushing him out in what he has perceived as an attempt to defraud him of his share of the loot. Turning to what he is entitled to, Pilane revealed that he was deserving of over P17 million of the P550 million water tender. “The first defendants’ 40% share of the said profit would be P43,975,972.36. The plaintiff’s share in the first defendants’ profit of P43,975,972.38 (which would be the amount owed to their company from the 40/60% joint venture) is P17,590,388.95,” Pilane has argued. Trial begins tomorrow.