Contractors misuse mobilisation funds – gov’t
Spira Tlhankane | Tuesday June 3, 2025 10:10
Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Permanent Secretary (PS) Kgakgamalo Ketshajwang told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) this week that the ministry is exploring possibilities to come up with mitigation measures to solve the problem.
Ketshajwang also said their challenge with contractors is that when they are given mobilisation funds, they think such funds are not part of the project. He said that in the process of delivering the project, the contractors realised that they should not have used such funds. He said that as the ministry, they are now looking at youth development, where they facilitate youth and citizen contractors to avoid the misuse of funds and abandoning projects.
He said in the infrastructure development arrangement, there is competition, hence the need to facilitate youth contractors and cushion them from high competition. Ketshajwang revealed that the ministry carries out capacity-building programmes targeted at directors of youth companies as part of interventions to deal with the problem.
Ketshajwang said abandonment of projects by citizen contractors is an issue that they always engage in. “In some of the projects that are taking time to be completed, we engage and bring various mechanisms or interventions to support citizen contractors. In some instances where it is possible, we even release some of the retention money to support some of these contractors,” he revealed.
He was responding to a question from PAC Member and Serowe Souh legislator, Leepetswe Lesed, who had asked how capacity building for non-performance and abandonment of projects by contractors had aided their performance.
Ketshajwang said there are numerous reasons or causes of project abandonment, and in some instances, the contractor experiences problems with low cash flow. He said as a result, they come on board as a ministry to provide support in all respects.
“We sit down with them and we encourage them because if they fail to deliver the projects, it is going to be very bad for them. At the end of the project, their performance will be assessed and evaluated. Eventually, they might not even participate in future tenders,” he highlighted.
Ketshajwang pointed out that they always show citizen contractors the importance of completing projects. He said that with the capacity-building programme, where they target the youth, the government believes that abandonment of projects will come to an end.
“We hope that going forward, its impact is going to be felt. The programme that was targeting youth companies is meant to train them on the capabilities that entail the best way to manage projects. We encourage prudent utilisation of funds as they get mobilisation funds. We teach them how they should manage the entire cycle of the project management,” he revealed.
He said the way a programme is packaged is that it touches all the salient elements to equip the youth companies with skills. Ketshajwang added that once the companies graduate from this training, they would have gathered the necessary skills to participate in the highly competitive tendering process.
Asked by PAC chairperson Taolo Lucas if they blacklist a company which fails to complete projects, Ketshajwang revealed that blacklisting is done by PPRA. He said that as a ministry that implements projects, they assess contractors’ performance and submit their recommendations to the PPRA.
He said it is up to the PPRA committee to delist companies. “Once you are removed or suspended from the registry, you will not participate because a Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) certificate is a requirement for government tenders,” he clarified. He has admitted that it rescues youth contractors and cushions them from the high competition of tendering.