Frustrated Magosi, Dithebe reveal Khama�s UK connections
Innocent Selatlhwa | Thursday October 20, 2016 17:02
The outgoing CEO of the organisation, Thabo Dithebe and the tourism ministry’s permanent secretary, Elias Magosi shared their frustrations working under the Minister, describing the experience as ‘working under duress’.
The committee heard that the Minister approved and instructed the CEO to implement a new structure, which saw one employee - executive manager, Gillian Blackbeard and legal advisor, Zibanani Hubona being remunerated amounts exceeding that of the CEO’s salary.
It was revealed that while the CEO earns P42,000, the duo have since September been paid P49,000. Even more interesting was the revelation that they were part of the committee that designed the structure alongside the Minister.
In addition, one employee was recruited as an attaché at an office in the United States of America without requisite qualifications and against recommendations by the CEO.
Magosi told the committee that he was not privy to the development, which required for his ministry to request an additional P23 million to cater for adjustment of salaries.
He said to his understanding, a structure should not include names as was demanded by the Minister. He also acknowledged that there was no way a structure with additional expenditure would have been approved without the input of the Board of Directors, Cabinet and Parliament.
On the other hand Dithebe, who appeared jointly with the permanent secretary, revealed that a structure they had recommended, and that was approved by the board late last year, was set aside by the Minister.
It was also revealed that a British citizen, who is Director for Cluster and Strategy has been working for almost three years without a work permit after she was denied one during her initial application.
It is said she was introduced by the then PS Neil Fitt and also enjoyed Minister’s backing, which made it impossible for Dithebe to get rid of her.
“I always advised the Minister about the issue and only recently after she was arrested was she given a one-month work permit,” Dithebe said.
Further revelations were also that early this year, the Minister signed a contract with a UK company, Asuia, to administer the Tourism Development Levy, which was initially to have been a health insurance scheme.
“Initially the company would provide travel insurance for all tourists travelling into Botswana at a cost of $20 of which the company (Asuia) would get $12.
However, as we tried to get all stakeholders involved it would seem like it became a tedious process with many requirements hence it was then changed to a levy for $30 with the company getting one-third,” Magosi said.
The duo further revealed that amongst other things, the Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority called for involvement of local insurance companies and there were recommendations to include other stakeholders, but the Minister insisted on giving the job to Asuia without following procedures such as tendering.
The committee bemoaned the fact that procedure was not followed, as there was no cabinet memo or even consultation with the finance ministry. Parliamentary committee chairman, Samson Moyo Guma said the organisation needed cleaning up as it is clearly in complete chaos.
He said they would summon legal officer, Hubona at the end to explain some things.