BURS shuts down Chez Ntemba

BAME PIET
Staff Writer | Tuesday September 7, 2010 00:00

General Manager - compliance Kaone Molapo said that the management of Chez Ntemba has failed to comply with the laws of Botswana and they (BURS) have now lost hope and resorted to closing the place with a court order.

He said that the club owners failed to register for VAT in 2002 only to register two years later. He said that when BURS audited the poor records of the company they learned that the company account was dormant, the company owed at least P900 000 in tax and that the owners did not own any assets.

Molapo said they reached an agreement with Chez Ntemba that they would pay the amount in installments and that they would file tax returns regularly, only for the company to disappear again.

He said that when they went back to check in August last year why the company was not filing tax returns they learned that it continued operating without proper records and nobody knows where the owners take the money.

'There are no records, no assets and we do not know where the money is taken. Even the vehicles they use are of foreign registration numbers,' he said. He said they do not know where the owner of the club is and they deal with his younger brother Numbi Kayambe. The owners originate from Democratic republic of Congo (DRC)).

As Molapo explained the suspicious dealings at Chez Ntemba, a white small container truck with Gauteng Registration numbers arrived with two occupants, Kayambe behind the wheel. Inside the club, which was apparently operating on Saturday night, the officers sealed fridges full of beer. BURS secured a court order last month to close down the place. Mmegi has learnt that most nightclubs do not operate within Botswana laws as they take advantage of loopholes and poor enforcement mechanisms in the country. Apparently majority of clubs are operated by foreigners and the origin of their finances, and its destination, is not known to the government.

The officers sealed all refrigerators saying Kayambe will have to settle the outstanding money, which is in the region of over P1million or face a prison term. He said that Kayambe told them that he was expecting over half of the money by evening yesterday from someone outside the country. Meanwhile, Kayambe refused to talk to us only locking himself in one of the houses at the club premises. It is alleged that there are people using the place as their home.