BQA CEO suspended
Innocent Selatlhwa | Friday July 18, 2025 11:00
Though BQA Board chairperson, Gabaake Gabaake, could only go as far as confirming the suspension, Mmegi has learnt that a barrage of complaints had been laid by staff against Mosimakoko before her demise.
But she on the other hand, denies any wrong doing though confirming her suspension.
In an interview, Botswana Land Board, Local Authorities and Health Workers Union (BLLAHWU) president, Thatayaone Mokhurutshe said they are pleased with the decision as they had long called for her sacking.
“We welcome her placing on administrative leave with both hands. “This should be a lesson to CEOs and top Government Executives that they have to serve with integrity, honesty, transparency and above all, delivering in the mandate they have been assigned to do,” Mokhurutshe said.
BLLAWHU in their strong worded letter calling for her “sacking”, described Mosimakoko as an inexperienced CEO who was appointed in September 2019 by the past Botswana Democratic Party administration with the Board then acting under instruction from the then President, Mokgweetsi Masisi.
According to Mokhurutshe, Mosimakoko was only a Research Officer at one of the Research Institutes in Canada and she was just appointed with no experience by her childhood friend, Masisi.
“Since her appointment, BQA has been on the brink of collapse due to her inexperience as she is a dictator and doesn’t take advice. The CEO has never had a substantive Deputy since her appointment as she made sure all those who were appointed were suspended from duty for the longest period so that she could run the show by herself,” they wrote.
“The first deputy who served under her was suspended and ultimately released from duty due to the support she commanded over the then President. The second deputy whom she vouched to be appointed also got suspended in June 2024 and to date she is still on full pay. All her deputies during her tenure have been put aside under full pay which shows mismanagement as acting appointments were made while officers were enjoying the same benefits as the substantive deputies.”
RemunerationSince her appointment, BLLAHWU laments that Mosimakoko has not only destroyed the livelihoods of her employees but also the education and training sector in general. They state that she did not renew contracts for over 40 employees since 2019, although BQA continued to suffer with backlogs that have negatively affected its customers. “In addition, BQA has continued to have high staff turnover due to those who could not withstand her leadership style and attitude. The Authority has lost very valuable members due to the boss’ stinking attitude and a one-man-show kind of leadership. BLLAWHU also state that its members’ remuneration at BQA leaves a lot to be desired. They state that salaries at BQA are not fairly distributed. “There are employees whom the CEO takes advantage of when it comes to contract renewal and offers them lower salaries without any valid reasons which has led to low morale in the workforce. Some employees who are favourites of the boss receive salary increments from time to time while others don’t enjoy the benefits. The BQA boss doesn’t work on merit but on favouritism,” they further wrote.
They also lament that it has been six years since there was a pronouncement of an Organisational Review which has not even started after the many years. Employees were reportedly given Section 24 letters and this has negatively impacted their lives as they cannot access loan facilities from the banks.
“The BQA boss wants to force the implementation of the organisational review despite the new National Transformation Programme as pronounced by the government of the day which will lead to obvious rationalisation of some of the SOEs and cease operation for others.
“The BQA boss doesn’t want to follow the due process in this review as she is targeting some employees that she personally hates as if BQA it’s her personal company,” they stated.
It is believed that in the last six years, the BQA boss has targeted and discriminated certain employees in the renewal of their contracts. Employees on lower scales are said to be generally given short term contracts of one to two years and Executive Management are given three and mostly five years. This is said to have led to lower staff working under fear and without stability. “The BQA boss has so much power that she has employed fresh graduates who are her family friends without shame and has some employees’ terms of employment (contracts) tenure and even their salaries are reviewed even when they are still on probation. This is done to reward these employees as the boss uses them to advise her against good industrial relations for the entire staff or those she is targeting,” they wrote.
Suspension of the use
of subject matter expertsThe Union also lament suspension of the use of subject matter experts in BQA processes which they say has contributed to the lack of quality in institutions.
-for example the suspension of the process of registration of qualifications provided for the engagement of subject matter experts in the field, saying this compromised the qualifications the Authority registered.
-the process of accreditation of learning programmes provided for the engagement of subject matter experts but the CEO decided not to use experts especially for legacy programmes from the legacy systems, TEC and BOTA. In addition validation of these programmes was not done, and further compromising the quality.
All this has compromised the quality of the National Credit Qualifications Framework as it was done as cost saving measures and pushing the numbers over quality at the expense of prospective and enrolled learners.
Suspension of servicesSince the beginning of 2025, the union states that Mosimakoko took advantage of the expiry of contracts for all Board members and suspended registration and accreditation of consultancies. “The BQA boss does not want to take the whole responsibility of coordinating the entire education and training in Botswana as per the BQA Act of 2013. Any chance she gets, she wants to continue shrinking the mandate of the Authority due to her lack of competence and knowledge. This is further corroborated by transferring the non-credit bearing short courses to HRDC under the support of the previous regime. The lady wants to be in a fat salary which is in excess of 120% in allowances only. The BQA boss also uses two top of the range Mercedes Benz which is against the BQA policy,” they stated.
They further state that over the last five to six years, Mosimakoko has stopped benchmarking activities from regional or international peers which has left the Authority isolated from the world especially on the core mandate. They further accuse her of ensuring that the Authority does not participate in SADC activities on National Quality Frameworks as requested by member countries. This, they say has made the Authority to lag behind and further isolated in developments regarding the NQFs and quality assurance.
In September 2024, the union states that Mosimakoko’s five year contract expired and the Board and the then Minister of Skills and Education then Dr Douglas Letsholathebe did not recommend for renewal of her contract.
“The BQA boss pleaded with her friend, Masisi, to instruct the then Minister to renew her contract which the Minister did under duress for fear of insubordination from the then President,” they state.
Upon the election of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) government in October 2024, BLLAHWU states that the BQA boss was so frustrated and was not ashamed and did not hide it from her subordinates as she kept blaming them along the corridors for the loss of BDP and told them why they would vote for a party that has no direction and will destroy the lives of Batswana.
They further state that the BQA boss has failed to improve over the last couple of months despite the President assuring everyone that he will give every Motswana a chance and work on merit.
“It has been evident with the decisions that are taken by the Board to close some of the institutions which are not conforming to the standards of BQA, but the boss has negotiated behind the Board to rescind the decisions. This is done at the expense of the learners as these learners are not recognised and not registerable upon completion of their studies at these institutions. The BQA boss does this to please some of her BDP colleagues to continue to enrich them while destroying the lives of kids,” they wrote.
Further, they question her professorship, stating it cannot be traced to any awarding institution and that she has even refused to do evaluation of qualifications with the entity she is leading as she claims it does not have capacity. “This clearly shows the BQA boss is undermining even the established processes and procedures or fears to be exposed of fraudulently acquired qualifications. It is without doubt the BQA boss was appointed not on meritocracy but nepotism,” they state.
“I did nothing wrong”Contacted for a comment, Mosimakoko confirmed her suspension and said she awaits her fate at home with a clean conscience. “I will not comment on whatever was said about me, but I can guarantee you that all I brought to BQA was integrity. I found the situation here bad and I have been working hard to turn things around. I will wait to hear why I was suspended and state my truth, for I know I have not stolen not even a single thebe from BQA,” she said.