BNF still mum about Kopano House

LEKOPANYE MOOKETSI
Correspondent | Friday July 20, 2007 00:00

But almost 20 years later, the plot is still undeveloped and unfenced.
Fund-raising exercises were held and a bank account was opened for the project. BNF members and supporters were encouraged to deposit money into the trust account. That was at a time when the BNF had just won the only two Gaborone constituencies.
The late Dr Kenneth Koma, who was party president, was the MP for Gaborone South while the late Maitshwarelo Dabutha was the MP for Gaborone North. The BNF was popular in Gaborone, especially in the high-density areas like Old Naledi.

It was believed that the party had raised a substantial amount for the Kopano House project. But no-one is saying exactly what happened to the money.

This week, the Director of Lands, Ian Tema, told Mmegi that at some stage, Government was on the verge of repossessing the plot, but the BNF appealed to the Minister of Lands. Tema said the party was re-allocated the plot last year.

Tema said on June 8 last year, the minister gave the party one year to develop the plot, meaning that if the BNF has not complied, it is likely to lose the plot because the one year extension expired on June 8 this year.

He said in the past, applicants were given four years to develop their plots; failure to do so resulted in the plots being forfeited to the state.

Tema said he is not sure whether the BNF has finished paying for the plot.  However, he said, his records do not indicate the party is owing. Former BNF Vice President, Michael Dingake, who was on the party's central committee in the 1990s, said they also resuscitated the Kopano House project.  

Dingake said when he and others broke away from the BNF to form the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) in 1998, they had raised more than P100 000 for the Kopano House project. But he does not know what happened to the money after they left the party.
The current BNF Secretary General, Mohammed Khan, has confirmed that the previous central committee had raised money for the Kopano House project. But he said they spent it on legal costs after the former members of the central committee took Koma to court.

Khan, who was the BNF's publicity secretary then, said the party spent P138 000 to pay Brian Spilg, an advocate from South Africa. He said there was about P90 000 in the party's coffers and that the other money was raised from other sources. He added that some of the money was borrowed from individual party members.

Khan said as far as he is concerned, the party is in the process of developing Kopano House. When he was contacted, the BNF Publicity Secretary, Moeti Mohwasa, said they were doing something about the Kopano House project, though the information is not for public consumption. Mohwasa said this was a massive project that the party could not finish overnight.