Tlokweng Dayspring Faces Closure

By Monkagedi Gaotlhobogwe
Staff Writer | Monday August 18, 2008 00:00

The Monitor has established that the landlord is threatening to lock-up the premises of the school this week to force the owners of the school to pay more than P2 million in rent arrears. The arrears have been piling for five years.

The threatened closure of the school has forced one of the experts in President Ian Khama's Moral Ethics Committee, Rev Johannes Kgwarapi, to pull out of a nationwide consultative tour by the committee. Kgwarapi is scheduled to address the closure today as chairman of Bible Training Institute, the landlord of Dayspring Primary School. The school is owned by a former American missionary at Bible Training Institute, Dywane Byers. The secretary of the board at Bible Training Institute, Rev John Phillip said they are considering locking the school's gates after their efforts to talk with Byers to pay the arrears failed to bear fruit.

Monitor is informed that the board has scheduled a meeting with Byers today and if there is no agreement, they will lock the gates tomorrow.

Efforts to talk to Byers were unsuccessful on Saturday. He refused to be interviewed at his house located inside the Bible Training Institute. 'I do not comment. You can go and talk to John Phillip. I am sorry. No comment,' he said as he closed the door to his house.

Monitor is informed that the school has been failing to pay the P45,000 rent per month for more than five years. The amount was agreed upon after a valuation of the premises. However, the school has been paying only P8,000 per month and not the agreed P45,000. This puts the arrears at P2.2 million. Byers first came to Botswana as a missionary, before he decided to run the lucrative business of a private school.