Letters reveal gov't authorised Seretse's company for fuel levy
Mpho Mokwape | Wednesday March 18, 2026 06:00
Seretse, who is charged alongside two of his associates with counts of corruption and money-laundering, amongst other offences, has always denied any wrongdoing. He has maintained that all transactions linked to the NPF were authorised by the government.
The recent surfacing of government letters written between 2017 and 2018 appears to show how officials authorised Kgori Capital to assist in setting up and operating a system used to collect fuel levies from companies operating in Botswana’s petroleum sector.
The correspondence, issued by the Department of Energy, details how the firm was instructed to open and manage accounts used to collect the Security of Supply Margin Levy, a charge applied to fuel sold in the country.
In a letter dated July 13, 2017, the Director of Energy, Kenneth Kerekang, wrote to the managing director of Kgori Capital outlining the steps required to begin the levy collection process.
The letter instructed the company to establish a dedicated bank account that would be used to receive the fuel levy payments.
“This levy will be collected monthly, and you are therefore instructed to open a specific account for the collection and monitoring of such levies until further notice,” Kerekang wrote.
The letter was addressed to the managing director of the company and marked for the attention of Sharifa Noor. Officials also authorised the company to withdraw P1,000 from an existing investment account to activate the new levy account.
According to the correspondence, the government expected the account to be ready for use by August 1, 2017. The levy had already been introduced earlier that month as part of government efforts to support fuel supply management. The charge was set at 17.5 thebe for every litre of fuel sold.
A second letter dated August 3, 2017, was sent by the Department of Energy to oil companies and fuel importers operating in Botswana. The letter informed the companies that a new electronic system would be used to manage levy reporting and payments.
The department said the system would be used to reconcile the National Petroleum Fund levies and the Security of Supply Margin Levy.
“You will be contacted by our representatives from Kgori Capital, the fund manager, regarding the rollout of the system,” the department wrote to the fuel companies.
The letter explained that companies would submit their levy returns through an online platform, whilst payments would be deposited into a National Petroleum Fund account held at RMB Botswana.
Officials said the electronic system would allow the government to monitor and track fuel levy collections more efficiently. Fuel companies were directed to use the website created for the system to submit their returns and process payments. Another government letter dated August 30, 2018, also refers to the system and its role in improving revenue collection.
The correspondence was addressed to Basis Points Capital, which was involved in the management of the platform. In the letter, the Department of Energy acknowledged the contribution made by the system since its introduction.
It stated that the platform had “contributed significantly to the improvement of levy collection from oil companies since its inception in 2017”. The same letter also mentioned managed service costs related to the operation of the levy collection platform.
Government officials said the system would continue to be used whilst staff received training on how it works. The training was intended to prepare government personnel to eventually take over the operation of the system once the contract period came to an end.
The letters show how the levy collection system was introduced and implemented through cooperation between the Department of Energy and private sector service providers.
The system forms part of the broader administration of the National Petroleum Fund, which receives levies collected from every litre of fuel sold in Botswana. Funds collected through the levy are intended to support fuel supply management and ensure the country maintains reliable access to petroleum products.
The government correspondence provides details of how the accounts, reporting system, and payment processes were established when the levy was introduced in 2017.