Corruption and Mismanagement in Botswana: A Best ... - See also

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CORRUPTION AND MISMANAGEMENT 503by a generous friend, but the Land Board had refused to give legaleffect to this transfer: 'On appeal to the Minister [of LocalGovernment] by Mr Kwelagobe ... the Land Board was ... directed toeffect the transfer'. This intervention by the Minister on behalf of afriend and colleague was, said Kgabo, 'deeply regrettable'. BothMmusi and Kwelagobe were developing land in the area, and a plothad been transferred to the Vice-President's son and consolidated withadjacent land owned by a senior bureaucrat; both the transfer and theconsolidation 'were done during the freeze' on allocations by the LandBoard. Residents informed the Commission that Mmusi had 'told themin the kgotla that the freeze affected non-Bakwena only'.Several of those who were themselves engaged in illegal land salesclaimed that they had done no wrong since ' responsible peopleaccumulate large chunks of land and enrich themselves'. InMogoditshane, the name of Mmusi and Kwelagobe had 'cropped upvery frequently' before the Commission, and 'the public does not referto them with any compliments'. Kgabo concluded that 'governmentcredibility and integrity are at stake' in the peri-urban areas.10 Mmusiwas also the National Chairman of the BDP, and Kwelagobe was itsSecretary-General; respectively numbers two and three after PresidentKetumile Masire in the hierarchy of the ruling party. Although bothresigned from the Government in March I992, three months after thesubmission of the report, they were most reluctant to admit theseriousness of their actions. Only in June I992 was their suspensionfrom party office also announced.3. Operations of the Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC)The Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the operations of theBHC, chaired by Richard Christie, presented its report in NovemberI992, amid existing public furore as events unfolded concerning thatparastatal and its associated Ministry. In the previous December,Spectra Botswana had granted an unsecured loan of P5oo,ooo to oneof its three directors, the Assistant Minister of Local Government,Michael Tshipinare, and thereafter its parent company, the PremierGroup of South Africa, made a successful tender-bid to construct a newheadquarters for the BHC, at a planned allocation of P53 million. InFebruary I992 the Corporation's ambitious general manager, JosephLetsholo, met a violent death. It was not entirely surprising, therefore,10 Republic of Botswana, Report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry Into Land Problems inMogoditshane and Other Peri-Urban Villages (Gaborone, I3 December I99i), pp. vii, xii-xvii, 12-I9,42-9, 53, 69, and 72-3.
504 KENNETH GOODwhen Christie identified 'gross mismanagement and dishonesty' in theBHC 'resulting in the loss of tens of millions of Pula'.Inefficiencies and wrong-doing appeared throughout the Corporation,and existed too within the supervising Ministry. The otherAssistant Minister of Local Government, Ronald Sebego, was found tohave used his position for the benefit of friends. The construction of 407high-cost houses had been planned on a hillside at Lobatse, thoughlittle or no market existed there for such accommodation, and the BHChad paid out P8-5 million for professional services in their design.Spectra Botswana received PI2 million to build the new BHCheadquarters before the contract was finally cancelled in June I992.Christie found that 'ultimate administrative responsibility' was borneby the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry who was also Chairman ofthe BHC, Pelonomi Venson, while Mmusi carried 'the politicalresponsibility' for the massive corruption.11The subjects of the Kgabo and Christie reports were closelyinterrelated, and the identified problems stemmed from housing andland shortages which had been unreasonably prolonged by those inpower. Ministers and senior civil servants had manipulated thecircumstances for personal advantage, and irresponsible, wrongdecisions had been taken. The spending of P53 million on a redundantoffice-building for the BHC was without justification, and it was at leastquestionable if the contract in any case should have gone to the PremierGroup, a company whose operations in Africa, perhaps especially so inZaire, were surrounded by notoriety.12 The Corporation, under theday-to-day control of a maverick manager, had acted out of publiccontrol. The IPM consultancy also resulted from the near totalineffectiveness of the supposed controls, and almost P30 million hadbeen wasted, to the presumed private gain of some of those involved.The events in Mogoditshane and the mismanagement in the BHC andthe Ministry of Local Government, moreover, came to light throughpublic controversy - fuelled by able investigative reporting in theindependent newspapers - and not as a result of internal, governmental" Republic of Botswana, Report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry Into the Operations of theBotswana Housing Corporation (Gaborone, 30 November I992), pp. 6-8, 79-89, 99, and 203-5.12 According to Sebastian Mallaby, After Apartheid (London, I992), pp. i60-3, 'Premier wentto great lengths to win the loyalty of senior politicians' in Africa, and the Belgian chairman of itsinternational division, Albert Nelissen, 'had a way of charming presidents'. He had agreed toinstal a 'ready-made garden' for Mobutu's palace at Gbadolite, 'complete with gardeners toreplace the Zairean bush with flower-beds', and soon after provided a poultry farm, also requestedurgently. Where speed was the criterion, and not costs, Premier got things done wherever theywere called. As Nelissen himself explained: 'Us establish in Africa. Paying tax, employing locals,training locals. Us give them a complete package.'
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