Batswana dominate PPADB blacklist
Innocent Selatlhwa | Monday August 15, 2022 06:00
Finance Minister, Peggy Serame revealed this in Parliament when responding to Maun West legislator Dumelang Saleshando’s question.
Saleshando and fellow legislators are not impressed that Batswana dominate the list and that there are no Chinese companies despite numerous complaints about them over the years.
Saleshando had asked the minister to state the number of companies blacklisted by the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Board (PPADB) in the last 10 years, the nationalities of the directors of all the blacklisted companies and the reasons for the blacklisting. In her response, the minister stated that a decision was made by the then board to either suspend or delist delinquents from the Register of Contractors as governed by the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2002.
She said the mandate has been continued under Section 100 of the Public Procurement Act, 2021, where PPRA can suspend or delist contractors for failing to comply with the Act.
“Mr Speaker, there were four contractors delisted between 2017 and 2021, while six were suspended. Furthermore, one contractor was issued a written warning for engaging in improper and unethical behaviour in breach of Clause 3.6 of the Code of Conduct of Contractors.
This was for participating in the Grade D tender category although holding Grade E, but was only warned since it had not been awarded the tender,” Serame said. She said the information in respect of the directorship and shareholding of the contractors is as at the time of breach of the Code of Conduct of contractors and as reflected in the registers of the Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA) or PPRA. The minister added that for some of the contractors, there have since been changes in the directorship and shareholding of the companies subsequent to the conclusion of the matter before the then PPADB.
Delisted companies
a) 3Pin Solutions (Pty) Ltd was delisted in 2017 for submitting fabricated documents relating to key personnel at the time of registration with PPADB. The company has two Batswana directors/shareholders. b) Chawe Civil Engineering and Construction (Pty) Ltd was delisted in 2020 for changing directors and shareholders to benefit from procurement socioeconomic/empowerment schemes. The company has three Batswana directors/shareholders, one Motswana director, and one Zimbabwean director/shareholder. c) Stocksure (Pty) Ltd was delisted in 2021 for the owner tendering at place cause of work – Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) – through the said company without declaring their interest. The company has one Motswana director/shareholder. d) Marcian Concepts (Pty) Ltd was permanently delisted in 2021 for fraudulently obtaining codes, subcodes, and grades. Subsequently, the contractor was removed from the contractor registration system on October 6, 2021. The company has one Motswana director/shareholder.
Suspended contractors
a) Azraa & Asadullah Investments (Pty) Ltd was suspended in 2017 for 30 months up to March 30, 2020, for failing to perform its obligations under the contract (i.e. breaching Clause 4.12 of the Code of Conduct for Contractors). This was in respect to ‘Tender No. TB: 8/3/2/2013-2015 for Supply of Dry Food Rations to various Institutions in the Kweneng District’.
The company has two Batswana directors/shareholders and two Indian directors/shareholders.
b) Discount Woodworks (Pty) Ltd was also suspended in 2017 for 30 months up to March 30, 2020, for failing to perform its obligations under the contract (i.e. breaching Clauses 4.3 and 4.4 of the Code of Conduct for Contractors). This was in relation to ‘Tender No. PR 3/4/2/10
(I): Supply of Furniture to Office of the Accountant General’. The company has one Motswana director/shareholder and one South African director/shareholder.
c) 3Pin Solutions Pty (Ltd), following its delisting in August 2017 for submitting fabricated documents relating to key personnel at the time of registration with PPADB, was suspended in December 2017 for a period of 12 months to December 6, 2018, from the public procurement and asset disposal for all other codes they held. This was to avert the contractor from unduly benefitting from public procurement.
d) Reliability Maintenance (Pty) Ltd T/A Fastrack Construction was suspended in 2021 for 30 months up to September 25, 2023, for submission of fraudulent documents in its registration with PPADB (i.e. had forged another contractor’s completion certificates and references by inserting their own names). The company has two Batswana directors/shareholders and four Zimbabwean directors/shareholders.
e) Sunstable Builders (Pty) Ltd was suspended in 2021 for contravening Clauses 3.6 and 4.4 of the Code of Conduct for Contractors by submitting a forged certificate indicated as registered in the Grade B category, whereas it was registered in Grade A. Therefore, the tender, which had been awarded when the contractor was not eligible, was immediately revoked upon discovery of the fraud.
The company has one Motswana director/shareholder. f) Ripple Business Ventures (Pty) Ltd was suspended for a period of 36 months effective January 21, 2021, for the owner tendering at a place of work (BNSC) under another company, Stocksure (Pty) Ltd, without declaring their interest. Though the company was not registered with PPADB, action was taken against the contractor in terms of Section 124 of the then PPAD Act as they had benefitted. The company has one Motswana director/shareholder who is also the shareholder/director of Stocksure Holdings (Pty) Ltd.
Saleshando further quizzed the minister on why she only answered for the past four years and not 10 and whether it meant that there were no blacklisted companies before then.
Saleshando stated that his question was based from the then minister in 2012 who had promised that action would be taken against delinquent contractors. He also quizzed as to why it would seem like Batswana companies seem to be the only ones being punished while there has been many stories about Chinese owned companies not having performed to expectations.
Fellow legislators amongst them Tumisang Healy, Mephato Reatile and Kesitegile Gobotswang expressed similar sentiments lamenting that Batswana could be hard done. Serame said indeed the Code of Conduct was in use since 2013 and that prior to 2017, there were no delisted companies. She said none of the reports about Chinese companies was concrete to earn any of them a delisting.