Moti wants tenders as Boko’s direct appointments irk locals
Spira Tlhankane | Monday May 12, 2025 09:16
The company will deliver ready-made clinics and schools made from renovated shipping containers. Although it is unclear how many schools and clinics Moti Group plans to build, the total cost for a single clinic is P9.1 million, while a single school will cost P36.4 million.
With Boko having supposedly inherited empty coffers from the previous regime, Moti Group has even suggested to the government where the latter can get project funding from individual ministries’ developmental budget.
The company belongs to South African businessman Zunaid Moti, who financed Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC)’s 2019 General Election bid.
Mmegi is in possession of the proposal in which the company, through its African Hero project, proposes to finish the million pula project in one–two months, 20 times faster than the current Botswana brick and mortar construction concept. African Hero is a socio-economic development initiative created and executed by Zotex Holdings (Pty) Ltd. Zotex belongs to the Moti Group, a superset of companies, based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
In their comparative analysis of the concept, African Hero says it will build fully furnished schools and clinics, including school buses, latest technologies such as CCTV, Wi-Fi, and internet connectivity through Starlink, and smart device tablets, among others. With a pilot clinic and school project planned to be built in Gaborone Block 7, African Hero indicated that the total cost for a single clinic is P9.1 million, while a single school costs P36.4 million. African Hero claims that the government will save a lot because, normally in the Brick and Mortar system, the latter would have spent a total of P18–25 million for a clinic and P80 million for a school.
“African Hero delivers clinics at P17, 300/m² and schools at P11, 600/m², which is significantly lower than the cost of traditional brick-and-mortar buildings. When comparing these prices to current government rates, it is essential to exclude value-added features from direct cost comparisons, which the government does not include,” African Hero outlined in its proposal.
Emphasising why they are better than other companies, African Hero said it offers a 17-year guaranteed maintenance and insurance, while other companies would require a separate government budget for that. African Hero also pointed out an end-of-term option, which is resale and or leaseback, possible to recover costs and no financial risk. “There is potential to resell after 17 years and recover costs from a new owner, with the government entering into a new lease-to-own arrangement. Government can recoup its costs at the end of the African Hero agreement by entering into a sale-and-leaseback arrangement with a new owner – a solution not available under conventional brick and mortar structures,” African Hero outlines in the proposal.
In terms of funding the project, African Hero has even suggested to the government where the latter can source the funds. “The government’s first-year commitment to this project amounts to P 465 million, allocated as follows: P155 million for clinics, P310 million for schools. This funding covers the initial rental, monthly rental, and monthly maintenance costs. It can be sourced jointly or individually from the following Ministries’ development budgets: Ministry for State President: P 3.33 billion, Ministry of Health: P 421.1 million, Ministry of Child Welfare and Basic Education: P 828.63 million, Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development: P 3.48 billion,” it outlined.
African Hero indicated that together, these ministries hold a total development budget of approximately P8.057 billion, making the project’s first-year cost only about 5.77% of that combined total budget. It also pointed out that, importantly, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development alone could accommodate this entire amount if necessary.
“By utilising existing development budgets to service the African Hero installments, the government can significantly accelerate infrastructure roll-out at a much larger scale while utilising the same budgets,” it noted.
It says that it will deliver 600 tablets for students (tablets replaced every two years = 7.5 replacements during lease term, incl. estimated inflation). It also says it will purchase two buses for a school (one delivered to the school and a second one delivered after six years).
African Hero has been deploying hundreds of shipping containers across Sub-Saharan Africa to create fit-for-purpose, ready-made clinics and schools. According to African Hero, their facility reportedly requires just three weeks for construction and implementation, resulting in quicker turnaround times for fast impact.
Boko insists on direct appointments
Speaking of project turnaround time, recently, President Boko emphasised that he will use his executive powers to enhance service delivery and do away with outdated tendering regulations that delay progress. In a Kgotla Meeting in Lerala last month, Boko emphasized the need to focus on getting things done efficiently for Batswana through direct appointments and choosing from the best companies.
Boko also stated that he is ready to defend direct appointments in court if he has to. “Some of the decisions we are going to take are going to shock some because, in some instances, we are not going to use normal tendering. Normally, a tender is advertised for up to six months, followed by an evaluation stage which lasts for three months. When the tender is awarded, one of the unsuccessful companies appeals the decision, and the matter ends up in court and is resolved after two years. In total, we would have lost about three years in which people from Lerala are still without a hospital. But from now onwards, things will be done differently and in a way that will shock people,” he said.
Furthermore, Boko said he would rather answer in court for making a decision that avoids delays. He said he will shortlist ten companies and choose the best from the lot. He said what he will require is proposals from shortlisted companies, and the latter will have to show him how and when they will deliver the project. Boko said one week would be enough for him to finish the evaluation, and consequently, he will choose the one he thinks is the best. Boko said afterwards that the project will start, and if legal actions arise, everything will have commenced. He said the constitution allows him to make executive decisions like awarding direct tenders. “In the end, you will see that I have used my powers properly and people will have their hospital and reduce the number of deaths,” he said.
Boko said he doesn’t want to be delayed by normal tendering processes. Boko, who not so long ago engaged Dubai-based firm, Alvarez & Marza to conduct the Forensic Audit for Botswana, said all the foreign companies the government will engage will be required to engage local companies as sub-contractors for skills transfer. “Three years is the target, and things have to be done quickly,” he emphasised.
The president even reiterated on another platform that he doesn’t like normal tendering because of the stages it has to go through. Boko who whose party, UDC, ended Botswana Democratic Party (BDP)’s 58-year rule last October, added that his predecessors didn’t fail because they had no ideas. “They did have maybe even better ideas, they just didn’t implement them, why? Perhaps they failed to appreciate that the structures that are in place are not properly placed for the attainment of quick action,” he said. He emphasised that he will subvert some of these rules and processes unapologetically.
Association challenges Boko’s direct appointments
Boko’s pronouncement that the government will make direct appointments going forward has worried the Tshipidi Badiri Builders Association (TBBA), and the latter has since requested a meeting with the government. In a recent letter written to the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and the Ministry of Local Government and Traditional Affairs, TBBA chairperson Tshotlego Kagiso said, although it is not clear at this point, the pronouncements made by the President may be construed to effect procurement policy change. Kagiso added that such changes would further erode competition and promote corruption, and work against local empowerment.
“We write as a concerned citizen contractors association in the build environment on the recent pronouncements made by Boko at different fora wherein pronouncements were made to the effect that going forward, Government will make direct appointment to service providers due to failures in the conventional and or traditional procurement process (Open Tender),” he said.
Kagiso said the delay in the award of tenders due to the ensuing litigation by losing bidders can be addressed through Statutory Instrument No. 61 of 2023. He said this is done by the Minister of Finance as the custodian of all government procurement in exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 450 of the Public Procurement Act, promulgated the Public Procurement (Tribunal) Regulations, 2023, which were published on May 5, 2023.
“These regulations were formulated to address issues pertaining to procurement complaints and provide a guideline on the procedures of channelling complaints through the Tribunal. The Tribunal, as can be gleaned from the regulations, has stringent rules and guidelines with regard to lodging of appeals to award decisions by the Accounting Officer,” he said.
He said that penalties imposed against filing trivial and vexatious complaints are enough to deter would-be perpetrators and time-wasters from the Government procurement machinery. Kagiso said, having addressed Boko’s concerns as justification for the direct appointments, it is worth taking note of the requirements for direct appointment as Section 20 (1) of the Public Procurement Act (Act No. 24 of 2021), Public Procurement Regulations, 2023.
He disclosed that the requirements state that a procuring entity may conduct procurement by means of a direct procurement method where the selection of a contractor is made on a sole supplier basis without competition, and there is insufficient time to conduct procurement by means of any other procurement method due to an emergency occurrence.
Kagiso further revealed that the requirements say a direct appointment can also be done where the works, services, or supplies are available from one contractor among others.
Kagiso also pointed out that it is in the public interest that they implore the ministers to apprise them on the criteria applied when adjudicating on the direct appointments so far carried out, since they don’t seem to address the requirements of Section 20 (1) of the Public Procurement Act.
“The only official direct appointment we are privy to in terms of works contracts is the recent appointment of a Namibian registered company, which is said to have partnered with the Botswana Housing Corporation on the initial 3000 housing units of the envisaged 100 000 units to be constructed by the Government. This development further cripples citizen contractors' potential of growth and amounts to exporting of jobs and services at the detriment of citizens,” Kagiso emphasised. Contacted for comment, Kagiso said they are still waiting for government's response on the matter.
In 2022, the government amended the Public Procurement Act, a move that necessitated the evolution of the former Public Procurement Asset Disposal Board (PPADB) into the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA).
The Procurement Act provides for the reservation of tenders for wholly-owned citizen companies. When citizen-owned companies can compete and deliver on projects with full competence, the PPRA is supposed to ensure that such tenders are wholly reserved for able and competent citizen-owned companies.
The PPRA has previously indicated that this reservation policy is their way of fostering a dynamic, citizen-centric model approach to procurement, one that focuses on empowering its citizens first as the main targets of economic empowerment.