Boundless corruption uncovered at BR

BAME PIET
Staff Writer | Wednesday July 31, 2013 00:00

 

At Botswana Railways, officers can place orders for spare parts and not account for them, rent their spouses' houses for the company at inflated rates, write off company property without input from the board of directors and hire friends at any remuneration. This shocking conclusion is contained in a report compiled by the Parliamentary Committee on Statutory Bodies after examining parastatals for the financial year 2010-2011.At the end of the examination of each department, the committee recommended strengthening controls, put control measures in place, or scrutinized contracts entered into between BR and its suppliers.

In one incident, the committee noted that BR had engaged a private attorney who was a former board member to assist in the collection of old debts.'It was observed that the collector, who is also the legal advisor to the Railways, was charging and being paid upfront an amount of P2,750 for every debt assigned to him for collection irrespective of the amount involved and the age of the debt,' says the report of the committee that is chaired by the MP for Gaborone West North, Robert Masitara.The committee says BR's outsourcing exercise had serious financial implications on the organization and raised suspicions.

'As a legal advisor to the Railways, it is expected that where the debts are too old and of small amounts, instead of charging the Railways, the collector could advise that some might have prescribed, otherwise there might be conflict of interest on the part of the collector,' says the report.Meanwhile, the committee found another suspicious transaction in which the director rented his spouse's house way above the P1,643 allowance stipulated in the contracts of directors.  'The risk is that directors are now given benefits which are more than their entitlements as per the contracts,' it observes. 'Since the directors are part of the management, they might have been involved in the decision to rent the houses, which might be a conflict of interest.'

Even beneficiaries of deceased former employees felt the heat and were made to struggle to acquire their benefits. The committee observes that BR management was not adequately monitoring the estates of the deceased ex-employees to ensure that they were sent to the rightful administrators timely on behalf of beneficiaries.Some cheques, the committee found, spent four to five years idling somewhere between BR and the administrators. In one example, deceased employee Stanley Molatlhegi's (2007) cheque spent five years in 'no man's land' until a second cheque was issued in February 2011. Malatsi Sebogo died in November 2004 but a second cheque to his beneficiaries was only issued in February 2011.

The committee comprises Masitara, Dumelang Saleshando, Rayner Makosha, Pono Moatlhodi, Phillip Khwae, Mephato Reatile, Charles Tibone, Odirile Motlhale and Parliamentary Legal Advisor Thebe Ramokhuwa.It examined the books of 42 government enterprises/parastatals and compiled a 400-page report.