Audit looms as Sepopa-Gumare contractors ask for extension

Spira Tlhankane | Monday July 28, 2025 10:20

While the commencement dates for the projects were set for November 2022 for durations of 15 months, but the projects are yet to reach completion.

Responding to a question in Parliament recently, Salakae said that because of the lapsed time for completion, the ministry has received claims for extension of time with related costs for both Gumare-Sepopa (73.9 km) and Sepopa-Mohembo (74 km).

“With respect to the Gumare-Sepopa contract, the claim for extension of time is 16.4 months on Package 1 and 9.8 months on Package 2. Regarding the Sepopa-Mohembo contract, the claim for extension of time is 12 months on Package 1 and 1 month on Package 2. These claims for extension of time and related costs are mainly about: time taken to finalise the change of scope of works, time taken to finalise design for cold-recycling and shoulder construction, and time taken to find appropriate gravel sources for the construction of works which were initially not contemplated,” Salakae further revealed.

Salakae was responding to a question from Okavango West legislator, Kenny Kapinga who 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.

Salakae also indicated to Parliament that claims for extension are at various stages, with some having been referred for dispute resolution between the Ministry and contractors. He said disclosure of any further details may prejudice the Ministry's position going forward.

“Therefore, allow me to revert with further details in the future briefing to Parliament after the resolution of the claims and disputes. Ultimately, to complete the projects, my Ministry plans to expedite resolution of these outstanding contractual matters,” he said. Furthermore, he also stated that he has initiated an internal audit of the project to identify what transpired, starting with the chronology of events, together with the internal human resources involved. Salake emphasised that the government cannot afford to have such cases repeating themselves and having officials and contractors who are a liability to the government by their compromised decision-making.

Disclosing more on the projects, Salakae pointed out that each section, Gumare-Sepopa and Sepopa-Mohemb,o is executed through two distinct contracts. He pointed out that the procurement of the two contracts started in May 2021 as open tender/ competitive bidding and were both awarded in October 2022, at an initial cost of P102.8 million for Gumare-Sepopa and P97.3 million for Sepopa-Mohembo road. “The initial scope of these projects was asphalt overlaying on all the sections of the road. Unfortunately, due to the passage of time between procurement and award and given the age of the road, the road deteriorated to a point where an asphalt overlay became inappropriate by the time the contracts were awarded,” Salakae revealed. He further indicated that the scope of works was therefore changed to include the reconstruction and widening of the road. Furthermore, he said the scope was increased to include the construction of access roads, namely, Etsha 1 (1.7km), Etsha 6 (3km), Etsha 13 (3.2km), Ikoga (2.8km), Sepopa (1.9km), Kajaja (1.2km), Nxamasere (1km), Samochima (0.9km), Shakawe Police (1.5km), Shakawe Airstrip (0.5km), and Mohembo Kgotla. “The addition of these access roads to the project was triggered by the application of the Access Roads Policy due to the shift to reconstruction. Considering the revised Scope of Works each of the two sections was further apportioned into two packages depending on the type of works to be executed because the variation of scope amount was beyond the allowable threshold of 25% above initial contract sum. The new package was awarded a direct appointment because contractors were already on site,” Salakae explained.

Salakae said progress as recorded at the end of June 2025 for the Gumare-Sepopa section is that package 1, being on the second stretch of 36.2 km stretch of the Gumare-Sepopa section, entailing shoulder reconstruction and widening, and asphalt overlaying stood at 57% against 100% planned.

He added that package 2, which is the first 36.7 km of the Gumare-Sepopa section, entailing the cold recycling of the road and the reconstruction of access roads to Etsha 1 (1.7km), Etsha 6 (3km), Etsha 13 (3.2km), and Ikoga (2.8km), stood at 72% against 100% planned. Salakae clarified that the contractual completion date was November 18, 2024, for Package 1 and February 5, 2025, for Package 2, but these have not been met. “Regarding the Sepopa-Mohembo section: Progress on Package 1, being 64 km of the Sepopa-Mohembo road entailing asphalt overlaying of the road was at 8% against 100% and multiple sections adding up to 10km of the Sepopa-Mohembo section (Package 2) entailing the cold recycling of the road and the construction of village kgotla access roads to Sepopa (1.9km), Kajaja (1.2km), Nxamasere (1km), Samochima (0.9km) and Mohembo (1.2km), as well as access roads to Shakawe Police (1.5km) and Shakawe Airstrip (0.5km) was at 250/o against 100% planned. The contractual completion dates were 18 November 2024 and 15 February 2025, respectively, and have also not been realized,” he pointed out.

Salakae’s response comes after the project was the subject of an inquiry by the recent Public Accounts Committee (PAC). 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 questions on the project. 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 MP, 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 subcontract 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.

Mmegi recently 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, due to the ministry's without full information. He revealed that he was constrained to discuss certain issues with the media as a third party because Non-Disclosure Clauses prevented 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 the rod being rehabilitated, 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 also 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. 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, a dispute occurred,' Ketshajwang said. This dispute, he said, took a longer time to resolve. '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.