Salakae denies implication as BR cancels Baaitse deal
Staff Writer | Monday December 1, 2025 10:48
The contested contract involves the recapitalisation and provision of rolling stock investment by a local joint venture involving equity interest of Baaitse, who is also an operative of the ruling Umbrella for Democractic Change (UDC).
A source in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure told to Mmegi that the deal signed to assess rolling stock capacity for BR, and the pumping of billions of pula in financing, buying wagons and locomotives for the parastatal, has been cancelled.
The deal, which was initially meant to see to the construction of a dry-port in Charles Hill, has since changed at the advice of BR to rather centre on the provision of wagons and locomotives to the struggling entity. The source, who is close to the matter, says a decision was reached to cancel the tender by the old BR board, with the matter remaining choppy due to claims by the contractor that work has already begun.
The source further alleges that Transport and Infrastructure Minister, Noah Salakae, has been insistent in ensuring the restoration of the deal. It is alleged that the Minister also wanted Baaitse to be given audience with BR leadership and the Board for a compromise to be reached.
“There has been interference in the Board and BR leadership by the Minister. He is pushing for the deal to be restored despite scores of irregularities in the deal. There could be a possible kickback for the Minister,” the source further alleged.
Following years of mismanagement allegations, the past BR Board was seized with, as a matter of urgency, the contested Memorandum of Understanding that was to eventually lead to the award of a tender to provide rolling stock support to the parastatal, which had been failing to meet demand due to dilapidated wagons and locomotives.
The Board is said to have undertaken due diligence on the matter and decided to cancel the tender, which has since invited the presence of Salakae to Board meetings. “The Minister showed up for a BR Board meeting, and in the meeting, he is said to have made his position clear. That the award of the tender be given to the parties despite irregularities. It is also believed that the Minister has been organising meetings between the parties and some members of the BR Board and executive,” the source further hinted to Mmegi.
However, Minister has since denied any knowledge of vying for the contract to be reinstated. He asked Mmegi to pose the questions to BR and its management. “I am not aware of the allegations you mentioned above; perhaps the right people to ask could be the BR Board and management,” he said in a WhatsApp response.
When asked about allegations that there could be a possible kick-back for him in the alleged push for the reinstatement of the deal, the Minister responded with the word “Ao”. Asked to further respond to the allegations, Salakae maintained his lack of knowledge regarding these matters. “I don’t know anything about what you are talking about,” he said in a brief response.
Meanwhile, Baaitse has told Mmegi this week that they had been served with the letter of termination but regarded it as ‘a mere love letter’ since work had already commenced on the project. “The contract was not only to conduct an assessment, but also to recapitalise and optimise the struggling BR. We {have}since wrote a letter to BR telling them that we disregard their so-called termination as there is no breach from our side,” Baaitse said in an interview .
“As such, we conducted their letter as a mere love letter,” he said, further threatening to retaliate in firm legal action against BR if their efforts to “restore BR operations” are resisted. “Our position is firm; we are in the process of saving Botswana Railways by restoring the operations in order to save jobs for many Batswana, both in Botswana Railways and mining producers. Should Botswana Railways resist, then we shall deal with the matter legally,” the businessman said. Meanwhile, BR said it is expecting a financial loss of P25 million this year, remaining in the column of the country's loss-making parastatals. The expected loss follows years of maintenance budget backlogs, including low volumes of freight and cargo transport.
Last year, the State-owned rail utility posted a P90 million loss as its financial woes deepened. The entity attributed the losses to “financial pressures and governance irregularities that have festered over the years”. Addressing journalists in Gaborone this week, BR CEO, Dominic Ntwaagae revealed that whilst the company was in the red, this year’s loss was an improvement from the one made in 2024.
“Last year, BR lost P90 million, and we see the loss improving this year to around P25 million. “The improvement in losses is the result of cost containment measures and an improvement in business management practices,” he said.
In February this year, three investors approached the Presidency, including and led by Life Compass, represented by Baaitse, proposing to build a Dry Port at Charles Hill. According to information from the Office of the President (OP), they were welcomed by President Duma Boko, who hailed the proposal and instructed the Office of the Adviser to Presidential Projects to see to its execution. In pursuance of the Presidential instruction, the OP convened a follow-up meeting with senior government officials of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and BRmanagement to pave the way for the implementation of the proposed project.
The OP would later be invited to the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure headquarters, at which meeting both the Ministry and BR officials explained that they had other pressing priorities. The priorities included the need for a Signalling System and increasing rolling stock to meet the growing customer demand and that they had been attempting to address this matter for a while with little success.
Furthermore, OP stated 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 in an enquiry made by Mmegi in August.
OP added that in March, a Memorandum of Understanding (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.