Parks Tafa�s Night Of Glamour
Monkagedi Gaothobogwe | Monday September 12, 2016 16:09
The premier law firm threw a night long party for its clientele, who included captains of industry in mining, banking and insurance sectors at its spacious Collins Newman garden and pool side terrace. The party was no doubt intended to silence critics in the face of recent negative publicity that dogged the company and the man. In recent months, the law firm has had to deal with some negativity including the infamous fraud conviction after a signature was forged in the matter they were handling for Bank of Botswana (BoB), the parting of ways of one of the law firm’s partners, Rizwan Desai, and the health of the managing director himself, Tafa.
The lavish party was a statement to prophets of doom, as Tafa brought hundreds of his big clients under one roof, to parade them as if to say no one has deserted him and his firm. For a man who spent most of last year on sick bed, some even doubting whether he will make it, Tafa made a big statement, with his presence, humour, interaction with corporate friends, that he is as fit as a fiddle. The respected lawyer was up and about chatting to guests for the better part of the night. And he was his usual self too, as he addressed the patrons in jovial spirit punctuated by humour here and there.
The CEOs of the financial institutions had brought along their senior managers to the event that was put together by one of the clients, in Tafa’s words. He told the gathering that the choice of the venue was decided by Liberty Life, who went all out to even suggest the décor and ambience for this grand occasion.
At the event, senior partner Neil Armstrong was paraded as one of the highly experienced heads at the company. Former President Festus Mogae’s daughter Boikaego was the only other non-partner associate at Collins Newman & Co to be given the platform to shine on the night, as she spoke well of the tradition, culture and values of the law firm, much to the appreciation of the gathering.
Standing proud in the company of the country’s rich and famous, and listening to her eloquent daughter was former First Lady Barbara Mogae.
Also on parade was Tafa’s depth of diverse lawyers, more than 16, as he told the gathering of his firm’s unparalleled culture. He spoke at length about his law firm’s own training institute, housed in their hugely spacious plot, where young lawyers are trained by senior lawyers to transfer knowledge, experience, and values, so that there is no gap in the skills at the company. According to Tafa, it is because of this training institute’s legacy that their lawyers are highly regarded, adding that even during his nine months absence from the company due to ill health, his capable staff continued to run the company as if he was not needed.
Collins Newman & Co is famous for handling transactions that range from complex mergers and acquisitions, mining, banking, finance, telecommunications, infrastructure work, to mainstream corporate and commercial activities.
They boast of having undertaken a large share of listings, debt capital markets, cross border transactions and foreign direct investments.
In their portfolio of clients, Collins Newman & Co boast of all the leading local banks, including the BoB, top mining companies and the crème de la crème of the corporate sector in Botswana, including one of the richest tourism companies in the world, Wilderness Safaris.