Lobatse Clay Works doors to reopen
Pauline Dikuelo | Tuesday July 26, 2022 06:00
Giving an update on the company at Parliament recently, the Minister of Investment Trade and Industry, Mmusi Kgafela said the plan for its reopening commenced in May 2022.
“We hope that upon its reopening it will create 141 job opportunities. It will also reduce our import bill and increase our tax revenue,” he said.
The iconic company which is wholly owned by Botswana Development Corporation had halted its operations and failed to pay close to 500 employees’ salaries after years of financial distress.
“In December 2017, we faced challenges due to an old plant. It was not maintained and was in a poor state. This was because there was no longer assistance like before which is why it decided to cease operation. Thereafter, they started retrenching workers and ensured that only 21 remained, those required to proceed with the maintenance of the plant, administration as well as financial issues,” he said.
Efforts were also made to source a consultant to work with LCW so that it can start operating, unfortunately, these efforts were unsuccessful. They went on to try again in 2019 and were still unsuccessful.
The 26-year-old firm’s revival plans were shattered after failing to get P60 million cash injection from the Botswana Opportunities Partnership Fund (BOP), which had moved to take up to 80% equity. The BOP, a P500 million private equity fund sponsored by the Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF) and asset management firm, Capital Management Botswana was the subject of extensive litigation, resulting in a Court of Appeal verdict for the pension fund.
However, BDC remained committed to LCW ensuring that it returns to sustainable operations. In 2019, the corporation injected P41 million into the company and before that, BDC had invested a total of P122 million into LCW over the years.
BDC as a shareholder also decided to source a consultant technical manager to assist in terms of recovering LCW.
“This technical consultant came up with a strategy to kick-start it, the target market being South Africa, looking at the location of Lobatse Clay Works on the map. Some markets included North West, Limpopo, and Namibia. This strategy was a success and was funded this year in February,” he said.
Lobatse Clay Works is a company established in 1992 as a joint venture with BDC. The company manufactures and supplies a variety of clay products including face bricks, pavers, and special-shaped bricks locally with exports into the region.