OP says Boko, Sehurutshe inculpable in the BR Dry Port deal
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe - Spira Tlhankane | Monday August 25, 2025 10:34
CAMDAW Group–Reliance Rail International (Pty) Ltd, a private entity in the deal, has accused the players being Advisor Presidential Projects, Omphile Sehurutshe, and Shadrack Baaitse of Life Compass, of using President Duma Boko’s name to extort a stake in the deal.
Late last month, the director of CAMDAW, Goitseone Iran Mfaladi, and managing partner Ante Afahame, wrote a letter to BR accusing the duo, being Sehurutshe and Baaitse, of coercion. The CAMDAW duo have indicated that they were initially introduced to President Boko by one Baaitse, who purported to act as Ambassador-at-Large, in an official representation of the Office of the President.
In the letter, they claimed that Baaitse put his company, Life Compass, instead of theirs and dismissed it as a clerical mix-up. They also claimed that Sehurutshe later on informed them to cede a 33.3% stake in the project to Baaitse’s Life Compass.
They view Baaitse and Sehurutshe’s conduct as both coercive and fundamentally incompatible with the principles of good governance, due process, and institutional integrity.
“With the above turn of events, Office of the President hereby sets the record straight, that neither the President, nor the Presidential Advisor, had any involvement or personal interest in the ongoing process to resuscitate the Botswana Railways,” a response from OP stated.
OP says that its staff always maintains the highest standards of integrity and transparency in all its dealings with customers. Speaking of integrity and transparency, Camdaw in the letter submitted that the conduct and collusion of the individuals in question, specifically the exertion of undue pressure to allocate equity in the project to a person purporting to represent the Presidency, in exchange for continued institutional support, constitutes a fundamental breach of ethical standards.
Camdaw claims that in a meeting on May 30, 2025, Sehurutshe informed them that the issuance of the asserted letter was 'now conditional upon our agreement to cede a 33.3% stake in the project to Baaitse'. Camdaw also claims that they 'were warned that failure to comply with this demand would result in their blacklisting from all future business opportunities in Botswana'.
“Such actions stand in stark contrast to the principles of transparency, meritocracy, and integrity that His Excellency the President has consistently espoused. It is our considered view that this type of influence-peddling undermines not only the credibility of public institutions but also erodes investor confidence in Botswana’s governance architecture, which we have long regarded as a beacon of probity and rule of law,” Afahame and Mfaladi wrote in the letter.
“Government remains committed to revitalising State Owned Enterprises, amongst them, Botswana Railways, to become profitable for the benefit of the nation. The facts of the matter are as follows: On the 22nd and 24th of February, 2025, three parties (investors) approached the Presidency, including and led by Life Compass, represented by Shadrack Baaitse, proposing to build a Dry Port at Charles Hill. The President welcomed and hailed the proposal and instructed the Office of the Adviser to Presidential Projects to see to its execution. On the morning of February 28, 2025, pursuant to the Presidential instruction, the Office of the President convened a follow-up meeting with senior government officials of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and Botswana Railways Management to pave the way for the implementation of the proposed project,” OP revealed.
Moreover, according to the OP’s account that same afternoon, the Office of the President was invited to the Ministry headquarters at which meeting both the Ministry and Botswana Railways officials explained that the Ministry and BR had other pressing priorities being the need for a Signaling System and increasing rolling stock to meet the growing customer demand and that they have been attempting to address this matter for a while with little success.
Furthermore, OP states that they requested the Office of Presidential Advisor Projects to bring this to and plead with the President to engage the investors and gauge their interest in partnering with BR on the project rather.
“They said the approach aligned well with the government’s goal and priority of pushing BR towards profitability by the end of the year. The Office of the President succeeded in engaging the investors, and they subsequently agreed to redirect their resources towards the said government priorities. On the 7th March, 2025, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure wrote a letter directing BR to engage the investors to carry out an assessment of the rolling stock,” OP revealed. OP added that on March 11, a Memorandum of Agreement (MoU) was entered into and signed on their behalf by Baaitse, who, from the beginning, led the delegation. In addition, the response from OP noted that the parties themselves expressed to the government that they are in their process of registering a Joint Venture.
It reveals that further meetings were thus conducted between BR and the investors that led to the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement between them and BR on March 21, 2025, signed by CAMDAW as the Lead Technical expert, for the Assessment of BR Infrastructure.
However, on May 30, 2025, OP claims that Afahame and Mfaladi of CAMDAW went to the Office of the President without the other two parties, with whom they had come during the initial meetings with the President. “They demanded to proceed with the project alone, to which the government told them that there is no basis for the government to close out other parties without a formal communication between them and the other parties stating as such. They were further informed that the government shall, for consistency, communicate with the party that signed the parent MoU that gave rise to the partnership in the first place,” the letter reads.
Furthermore, OP pointed out that Baaitse of Life Compass, as the signatory to the parent MoU, ensured, however, that the assessment of Botswana Railways' infrastructure continues, given its importance to the government, and subsequently submitted the Assessment Report to Botswana Railways for discussion.
As regards clarity on the Life Compass Botswana (Pty) Ltd Technical Support Service Agreement, OP said the Government respects and upholds its obligations of Non-Disclosure. OP said as regards the matter of the P25million, the facts of the matter are that no final financial terms or cost structures have been agreed upon.
“Any financial commitment if entered into would be subject to standard procurement laws of Botswana based on Addenda or work orders, which would contain detailed scopes, cost structures, and performance terms—none of which have yet been executed,” it reads.
When requested to comment on the matter, Baaitse said he has been advised by his legal team not to comment. Presidential Projects Advisor, Omphile Sehurutshe, said there is no truth that he bought BR and cannot comment on internal matters.
In their letter, CAMDAW said that in light of these developments and taking cognisance of recent public disclosures suggesting the emergence of a transaction that mirrors the scope of their engagement, they are compelled to respectfully seek urgent clarity on the official posture of BR respectfully to this project.
Specifically, they sought confirmation of the continued validity of their agreements, the institutional coordination framework envisaged by BR, and whether any parallel or superseding undertakings have been initiated that may impact the implementation, scope, or structure of the program.
In an interview with the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Noah Salakae, he said: “Botswana Railways operates independently, and the BR Act is clear on how it is supposed to operate. Of course, there are decisions that I make, especially in regard to the board, amongst others, after Cabinet has agreed on. I do not make my own decisions. A lot of things said about BR are not true, and I cannot divulge internal information to the media.”