Illegal tour operator uses gov't as ‘meal ticket’
Innocent Selatlhwa | Tuesday February 28, 2023 06:00
While in business, the said tour operator has allegedly not been paying required fees and has reportedly been using government resources for at least 10 years.
According to the Auditor General’s report for the financial year ending March 2021, the unnamed operator runs a campsite at Mabuasehube within the Trans Kgalagadi Frontier Park and has not paid anything from 2011 to at least October 2021.
According to Auditor General Pulane Letebele, an audit of the campsite revealed that the tour operator had been doing business in the park under circumstances that were not clear to the management of the park. “The company operated without a lease and a Tourism Enterprise Licence and it did not appear in the Department of Tourism database.
Furthermore, the company shared government facilities such as office space, telephones, and water without making any payment,” she stated. The company is said to have started its operations in the park on July 15, 2011 but had never paid royalties and other levies as is the case with similar companies in the industry. It also had not submitted a staff list to allow its employees exemption from paying every time they enter the park as ordinary customers would. “The company had not submitted the Annual Vehicle Permit to allow company vehicles to be exempted from paying every time they entered the park.
It was explained that the company employees and vehicles were not charged entrance fees into the park with the hope that the company would submit all the necessary documentation,” Letebele stated.
The Auditor General stated that the management of the park indicated that they made attempts to pursue the matter dating as far back as 2017, by demanding payments for bills amounting to P2,068 as at January 2019 and camp fees amounting to P142,610 as at March 2019.
“At the time of the audit in October 2021, the outstanding amounts were not yet paid including both accumulated bills and fees up to October 2021, but the private company was still enjoying free use of government resources without authority. "It was evident that the company was operating illegally in the park and owed government money for services that had not been exempted from the time of commencement of operations to date,” Letebele said.