Mmegi

Ncojane P1.5 billion water tender blocked despite CoA approval

Pipe line
Pipe line

A 100%-citizen-owned Tawana joint venture won the P1.5-billion Ncojane water tender twice. But just when they thought it was over, the Ministry of Water and Human Settlements, the DCEC and the PPRA now stand accused of obstructing the very court order that vindicated it.

On 27 March 2026, the Court of Appeal (CoA) brought down the curtain on a long-running dispute over one of the country’s largest water-supply tenders. It dismissed an appeal brought by two Chinese-owned construction giants and confirmed that the P1.5 billion Ncojane Water Supply Works contract, which will deliver water to villages across Charleshill (Formerly Ghanzi South) and Kgalagadi North Constituencies, belongs to a 100% citizen-owned bidder, Tawana Joint Venture.

More than six weeks later, the contract has still not been signed. As if that is not enough frustration for the contractors, three different bodies of the State now appear to be pulling in the same direction: away from compliance with the Court’s order.

Editor's Comment
Let the courts follow the money

“Law and order are the medicine of the body politic and when the body politic gets sick, medicine must be administered.”– B.R. AmbedkarThe amount of money at play threatens to test the integrity of the country’s financial system, giving more reason to why the courts must be fully given leeway to lean on the matter and reach a conclusion.Botswana has spent decades building her reputation as a stable and credible financial jurisdiction.The...

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