Seretse chaired RFT Botswana at tender time

BAME PIET
Staff Writer | Wednesday January 26, 2011 00:00

 

Commander of BPS Air Support Branch, Tapuzani Gabolwelwe, said that the former minister put his signature, as chairman of board of directors, on a compliance certificate authorising his younger brother Bathusi Seretse, to sign all documents relating to the tender.

He told the court that he was the project manager for the establishment of the air branch and was tasked with designing, budgeting and implementation of the project and he did that with other committees such as departmental tender committee. He said that only Tetech South Africa and RFT Botswana (Pty) Ltd bid for the project and the former company was disqualified at the initial stages after failing to avail all necessary documents that are required in a tender. However, RFT passed all the remaining stages and was subsequently awarded the tender. He said that the team did everything independently and there was no external influence, no favouritism, no leaking of information to any of the bidders.

He said that all tender procedures were followed and complied with. Defence attorney Parks Tafa put it to him that he meant that there was no corruption during the whole tender process even after its completion, which he answered in the affirmative. This prompted the prosecution to raise a point of objection saying the question on whether there was corruption during the process should not be allowed in court. They said that it is a legal point on which the witness was not competent to answer.

The objection must have rubbed Tafa the wrong way and he ridiculed the prosecution saying they do not understand the charge sheet, their mandate and the mandate of the defence and that of witnesses. 'The objection is not only baseless my lord, it is also embarrassing to say the least. Its flabbergasting to be told we can't ask this witness about events that took place from the beginning to the end of the project,' he charged. For about 10 minutes, Tafa described how baseless, naive and misinformed the objection was and how useless the prosecution has demonstrated itself to be. 'He doesn't understand his own case and must reassess his position,' he hit at the prosecution. He said that the former minister is charged with corruption hence defence has every right to extract information from the witness, including use of the word corruption. Tafa said the prosecution behaved like they could not make a distinction between a circus hall and a court of law.

Perhaps fed up with this bombardment, the prosecution warned Tafa to be careful with his language or they would likewise respond in an unprofessional manner. He withdrew some of the words he had used but maintained that the objection was baseless. Nyamadzabo allowed the question to be asked saying the prosecution will have an opportunity to re-examine the witness and make any corrections where necessary.

Tafa asked the witness if indeed no information whatsoever was leaked to any of the bidders and he confirmed it. He also wanted to know if Seretse had ever played any role in the tender process, to which the response was that he never did. The case continues.