Costly Sepopa-Gumare road project reaches Parley
Spira Tlhankane | Monday July 14, 2025 09:34
That was after It recently emerged that the project is not only behind schedule, but its costs have ballooned to more than twice the original budget. Due to the worrying state of the project, last month, the PAC explored options to summon former Transport Minister, Eric Molale, and his former permanent secretary (PS), Kgomotso Abi, to appear before the committee and answer question on the project. But this week in Parliament, Okavango West legislator, Kenny Kapinga brought the road project before the house as more concerns arise that it could yet cost the taxpayer more. Even though Kapinga’s question was deferred to a late date, the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) legislator had asked the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure to give an update on progress made on the project to refurbish the A33 road from Gumare to Mohembo, especially the Sepopa/Mohembo section, which appears to have failed to take off successfully.
It is said that the MP was seeking an update because there was less activity taking place at the site, and that there is also no sign that this multi-million Pula tender will be completed anytime soon. An engineer at the Ministry says initially in the Bill of Quantities, the road was supposed to have a base crusher run, but now they have decided to change the specifications of the project, which was supposed to be a crusher run base.
'They are compromising the quality of the road by removing the crusher run base. The crusher run base enhances the quality and durability of the road,' the engineer said. He explained that this road will not be durable without the crusher run base. Instead of the crusher run base, they are using natural gravel, which is a substandard material. The contractor claims for the crusher run, which he priced. He is pocketing the money without the crusher run,' he added. He also claimed Bango Trading felt that this would be a cost for him and decided to do away with a crusher run. Mmegi contacted the contractor of Bango Trading's Moffat James, for his side of the story, and he revealed that some people speak ill about the contractor and the client, being the ministry without full information. He revealed that he was constrained to discuss certain issues with the media as a third party because Non-Disclosure Clauses preventing him from doing so. Despite that, he admitted that the project has been experiencing delays and cost overruns adding that when they started the project, they realised that the road had been damaged more than it could be repaired.
James also said initially they were supposed to do maintenance for the road, but upon realising that the road had deteriorated, the project specifications changed. He stated that instead of being rehabilitating, they were now compelled to do reconstruction. “The scope changed, and what was supposed to be 6.8 m was then extended to 9m. We also required a design which was not in the original project specifications,” he clarified. James said one of the challenges they experienced was that there was no material in the area, leading to more delays and additional costs. He said he couldn’t disclose more information about the project and referred this publication to the government.
But during a recent appearance before the PAC, Transport and Infrastructure Permanent Secretary (PS), Kgakgamatso Ketshajwang had a tough time trying to explain the controversial Sepopa–Gumare road project. The PS conceded that, ideally, re-tendering should have been a more viable option and less costly for the contentious project. Ketshajwang was at pains to explain decisions taken by his predecessor after the tender was awarded for the project a few years ago.
Initially, the project was awarded a sum of P110.5 million in August 2022 to Bango Trading for the shoulder reinstatement and asphalt overlay. It was varied three times and has since ballooned to P301.7 million. Trying to justify the delays for this project and Sepopa–Mohembo, which was awarded to Rockefeller, the PS conceded in his submission that he could not indicate the reasons by then not to call for re-tendering for these projects. He disclosed that Sepopa–Gumare was 75% complete and Sepopa–Mohembo was at 61% completion.
Ketshajwang also agreed with PAC member and Maun East legislator Goretetse Kekgonegile that outside the PAC forum, they need to call the former minister and permanent secretary to answer for Sepopa–Mohembo and Sepopa–Gumare road projects. This was because they all agreed that re-tendering could have been a viable option.
'We will explore that option to call the former minister and permanent secretary,' the PAC chairperson reiterated. Kekgonegile had asked the accounting officer Ketshajwang to explain why Sepopa–Mohembo, Sepopa–Gumare, and Gumare–Nokeng road projects were behind schedule.
Kekgonegile also wanted to know why they had varied the scope specifications several times and why they did not call for re-tendering. He also wanted to know why the contractor for Sepopa Gumare decided to sub-contract the project to the Chinese, which is not allowed according to the procurement laws. Kekgonegile also wanted to know what action was taken for non-performing contractors besides terminating and why the latter could not be blacklisted.
Giving a background to the projects, the PS explained that the tenders for Sepopa–Mohembo and Sepopa–Gumare projects were floated as open in the 2020-2021 financial years. 'They were floated as open tenders, and the two companies were identified through that process. However, during the evaluation of the two tenders, there a dispute occurred,' Ketshajwang said. This dispute, he said, took a longer time to be resolved. 'During that period, the sections of both Sepopa–Gumare and Sepopa–Mohembo deteriorated very severely, which was not the case at the time when the initial tender was instigated (sic).' He said the powers that be at that time, who were managing the tenders, decided to directly appoint Bango Trading and Rockefeller since they were initially appointed through a competitive process.