Nkaigwa �gift� company settles with GCC
Mpho Mokwape | Tuesday August 12, 2014 13:41
Primedia Outdoor was in the news two months ago after it emerged that Mayor Haskins Nkaigwa received a P30,000 gift from the company while the Council was fighting to remove the company’s billboards due to an expired trading licence.
Councillors passed a unanimous motion calling for Nkaigwa to resign which he snubbed saying it was unprocedural and of no effect.
Yesterday, the Council and Primedia buried the hatchet in the High Court before Judge David Newman, with the South African media firm agreeing to pull down four billboards dotted around the city at its own expense.
The Gaborone City Council had dragged Primedia to court arguing that the company had illegally erected four billboards near Bokamoso Secondary School, Gaborone Private Hospital and along Old Naledi road.
Newman heard yesterday that the two parties had reached an out of court agreement in which Primedia admitted its guilt and committed itself to taking the billboards down.
Primedia attorney, Bokani Machinya, told the court that under the agreement, the company had already started removing the billboards since last week and would also bear the court costs.
“We have reached an agreement and we are only here to confirm our settlement to the court as we have realised our fault and we have since started removing the said billboards,” she said.
GCC lawyer, Farai Sibanda, concurred that a deal had been reached out of court.
“After the contempt of court application, the company agreed to remove the billboards and they have since started the removal as I understand,” he said.
“They started last week Thursday and they have since admitted their mistake.”
The GCC had previously won a court order to remove the billboards but Primedia had not complied with the ruling within the stipulated time. The local authority subsequently sought and received a contempt of court application.
The Council was fiercely divided in June after Moselewapula councillor, Ndiwaani Kenosi successfully moved a motion calling for Nkaigwa to resign and for a full investigation into the gift. Publicly known for his crusade against corruption in the local authority, Nkaigwa snubbed the motion and accused his rivals of orchestrating a witch-hunt.