Phikwe Cooperative resurrects
Onalenna Kelebeile | Tuesday February 17, 2015 16:30
Key to the resurrection of the Cooperative was a decision taken in 2012 to enter into property development, the society’s chairman Tebogo Venson told Mmegi Business. The Cooperative society now generates about P155, 000 from rentals per month. According to Venson, they are now happy that they managed to clear all their debts that were in the region of between P3 to 4 million.
He explained that they discovered that the closure of the society by the Commissioner of Cooperatives was as a result of too much political involvement in the running of the society hence things were not done properly.
“Political involvement led to the collapse of the society and there was no supervision of staff hence mismanagement of the Coop’s assets,” he added. Venson said the society had plunged into serious debts owing almost all wholesale stores in Selebi-Phikwe as well as some in Gaborone and Francistown.
He added that after assuming power in 2011 the new committee in conjunction with the Commissioner’s office recommended that investigations be carried out to establish the cause of the collapse. “The findings revealed that there was corruption and there were no internal controls in place hence a close down was recommended. “We sold some of the property, equipment and stock from our shops to liquidate the debts. We even sold part of the building in the mall for around P1 million.
“Our debts were not fully cleared as we owed Eureka (Wholesalers) about P800 000 and they slapped us with summons,” he added.
Venson said they then approached Bobonong Cooperative Society to assist them with an interest-accumulating loan that they used to clear off debt balance. They managed to pay back the loan with interest within an agreed period without defaulting through the rental proceeds. Venson noted that it was even tough when they moved from being a consumer entity to property development, but now they are thinking big. The Coop is now renting its buildings in town to Shoppers, Bears Furnishers and has a warehouse at the Industrial site as well as a plot in Botshabelo.
“We intend to collect monthly rentals and then divide a certain percentage of annual proceeds among members so that they can also have a sense of ownership of the society and reward their loyalty. “We will announce this at the next annual general meeting,” he added. Other than the P155 000 monthly rentals, the society has accumulated close to P2 million in its bank account.
The chairman also said that the society’s strategic plan has been completed in which they want to decide a type of building to construct at their plot in Botshabelo.
They also aspire to build a lodge and even a cultural village if they can secure a plot in Selebi-Phikwe.
The society is currently in talks with Mmadinare Cooperative Society to buy its farm so that they (Phikwe Coop) can venture into horticulture to benefit from the coming processing plant in Selebi-Phikwe.
“We are looking at the town’s development plan to apply for land where we can build property and lease out to tenants. We are also considering buying houses from Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC) around the country and lease them out.
“We want to tap into every opportunity that we come across,” he noted. After being bailed out by their Bobonong counterparts, Selebi-Phikwe Coop also wants to extend the same gesture to other struggling cooperative societies so that they can also stand firm.
Some of such societies have even presented proposals that are still under consideration.
The society currently has a membership of 3, 600 though about 1, 600 of them are reportedly dormant.
“We decided to screen our membership to identify dormant ones and eligible members are allowed to buy shares from the society while old members can top up their shares,” he said. The society has a staff complement of only six and by the time it caved in, about 45 workers were thrown into the streets.
Venson said they paid the workers all their benefits.