Botash, which recently placed its managing director and head of finance on administrative leave, says the ongoing probe covers “specific transactions, stock management, procurement, and sales”.
Botash, the region’s largest supplier of natural sodium and related products, expects the investigation to end in February “but may escalate or extend depending on the findings,” deputy board chair, Harry Pheko told Mmegi.
“The placing of the Managing Director and Head of Finance on administrative leave was purely to safeguard the integrity of the investigation process and does not suggest any wrongdoing by the duo,” he said in a response to emailed questions.
Botash, which boasts a nameplate capacity of 300,000 tonnes per annum for soda ash, and 650,000 tonnes per annum for salt, is one of the country’s success stories in non-diamond industrial output. Currently, salt production is around 420,000 tonnes per annum, limited by the market rather than production constraints.
Insiders at the Sowa Town-based company alleged that at the heart of the troubles is an amount of P70 million which has reportedly not been accounted for, amongst the alleged irregular procurement and sales.
“That amount was allegedly not accounted for and there have also been issues around spending on capital projects,” an insider told Mmegi. “We understand one senior official awarded a tender to a company that he is involved with and that he actually supplied with trucks for distribution.”
The insiders also claimed that there were tensions between top local management and the South African marketing team which is responsible for driving sales in that country. South Africa is Botash’s top market for soda ash sales and the company has silos and a fully-fledged team there.
Botash is a 50/50 equity partnership between the Government of Botswana and Chlor Alkali Holdings, a South African company.
“It appears there have been accountability issues this side, as well as attitude issues between the team in South Africa and the local management here. “The board had to opt for an independent investigator for the probe because of these tensions,” the insider said.
Other sources at the company also allege the recent challenges have resulted in some high-level resignations and departures.
Responding to the allegations, Pheko said Botash was not aware of any P70 million unaccounted for.
“We are not aware of such allegations; your source is advised to use our whistleblowing hotline or email [email protected] if they have more information,” he said.
The deputy board chair further said reports of tensions between the local management and the South African team had no basis.
“Such allegations are misinformed. “The operations between Botswana and South Africa follows a defined value chain, so there are no frictions or disputes at any level for that matter,” Pheko said.
On the reported resignations, he said: “Resignations are a normal employee attrition process in any workplace. “In the period mentioned, there were no high-level resignations you alluded to. “The company is fairly stable.”
Botash is working on significantly expanding its production under its ‘Double in Five, Safely’ strategy, which will also introduce a new product, sodium bicarbonate.
Bank of Botswana figures indicate that exports of salt and soda ash from Botash reached P986.2 million in the nine months to September 2024, putting them on track to beat the P1.2 billion recorded in the full year in 2023.
The same figures show that salt and soda ash exports in the year to September were about 24% above the corresponding period in 2023.