Why reputation matters to Tafa
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Lawyer Parks Tafa
In court papers making his case before the Lobatse High Court against Business Weekly and Review publication, prominent lawyer Parks Tafa muses and gloats in the same breadth about his part in the success story of Collins Newman and Company (CNC) legal firm.
Tafa who qualified as a practicing attorney in 1991 and became Managing partner at Collins Newman and Company in 2004 says that, “I am consistently rated by major legal surveys and publications (such as Chambers Global, PLC Which Lawyer? and IFLR 1000) as a ‘band 1’ leader in my field of practice, which is largely corporate and transactional in nature.”
He also says that Senior Partner at CNC Rizwan Desai who has been his partner since 2000 is also consistently rated as a ‘band one’ leader by major legal surveys and publications and is regarded as one of the leading corporate and transactional lawyers in Botswana and enjoys recognition amongst his peers and clients alike.
The Harvard School of Law educated Desai is former Chairman of Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) and is presently Chairman of the board of directors of Barclays Bank of Botswana Limited while Tafa is Chairman of the University of Botswana Council, Stanbic Bank Limited and Wilderness Safari’s, respectively.
Tafa continues: “I have also acted as an advisor to past three Presidents of Botswana in various regulatory matters and I am frequently consulted by various spheres of government.”
He also says that Collins Newman and Company which has been operating as a law firm in 1997 is an established leader in the field of commercial advice and litigation and is the largest firm in Botswana. He also asserts its excellence by saying that, “presently it is a member of a prestigious Africa Legal Network (ALN) group of leading law firms across the continent.”
Tafa also in his evidence continues to say that, CNC counts among its blue chip clientele domestic and international firms such as Anglo American, Standard Chartered Bank, First National Bank, Rand Merchant Bank, GE Capital, Hana Mining Limited Sasol Petroleum, Cathay Fortune Investments, JP Morgan and Deutshe Bank among others.
He says that in the country CNC also acts as an advisor to many government and statutory institutions such as Bank of Botswana, Botswana Power Corporation, Debswana, BCL Limited, Botswana Meat Commission, Botswana Oil, Botswana Ash, Botswana Public Officers Medical Aid Scheme, University of Botswana and Botswana Telecommunications Corporation among others.
He also adds that his firm has throughout always sought to employ only the best available legal talent in the country, before citing the paper he is suing when it described CNC as “…one of the country’s most prominent legal law firms” and as a “go-to legal firm for the corporate sector and the political leadership.”
CNC is representing Bank of Botswana in an on-going case which was bungled by a CNC attorney, one Bokani Machinya after she was found to have forged court papers. Bank of Botswana is being sued by EBC Guernsey Limited in respect to losses it is said to have incurred as a result of the collapse of Kingdom Bank Africa Limited.
Tafa also adds: “the preservation of CNC’s reputation is dear and important to me. Naturally the preservation of my own reputation and that of Desai is equally important.” he continues, “We care about what members of the public think about CNC not because this is necessary for the purposes of our professional dealings, but also because it has always been a source of pride for Desai and myself as individuals,” he says.
He further said that he is the longest serving professional in CNC and thus he considers himself the primary guardian of its well ‘established reputation’ and never before has CNC hauled one of its attorney before Law Society of Botswana (LSB) except concerning the forgery incident with Machinya.
If monetary figures on his resume are anything to go by, calculations would indicate that Tafa has presided over purchases and procurements, transferrals of movable and immovable assets, syndicated financing, negotiating of maintenance and operation agreements, presiding over acquisition of assets and buildings, real estate developments, secondary listings and recapitalisations among others cumulatively worth $ 7, 9 billion or P 79, 23 billion.
Calculations would also indicate on Desai’s resume that he has also presided over a wide spectrum of corporate and commercial transactions ranging from Initial Public Offerings, demutualisation, acquisitions and re-acquisitions, restructuring activities, inward listings and cash injections among others, valued at $4.25 billion or P45.49 billion.
The case in which Tafa wants to interdict the publication awaits ruling.
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Local tennis team upbeat ahead of Billie Jean King cup
With almost two weeks until the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup, which will be staged in Kenya from June 12-17, 2023, the Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) ladies’ team coach, Ernest Seleke, is optimistic about reaching greater heights.
Billie Jean King Cup, or the BJK Cup, is a premier international team competition in women’s tennis, launched as the Federation Cup to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The BJK Cup is the world’s largest annual women’s international team sports competition in terms of the number of nations that compete.
The finals will feature 12 teams (Botswana, Burundi, Ghana, Kenya, Seychelles, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Tunisia, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, and the Democratic Republic of Congo) competing in the four round-robin groups of three. The four group winners will qualify for the semifinals, and the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup will be crowned after the completion of the knockout phase.
Closer to home, the BW Tennis team is comprised of Thato Madikwe, Leungo Monnayoo, Chelsea Chakanyuka, and Kelebogile Monnayoo. However, according to Seleke, they have not assembled the team yet as some of the players are still engaged.
“At the moment, we are depending on the players and their respective coaches in terms of training. However, I will meet up with Botswana-based players in the coming week, while the United States of America (USA) based player Madikwe will probably meet us in Kenya. Furthermore, Ekua Youri and Naledi Raguin, who are based in Spain and France respectively, will not be joining us as they will be writing their examinations,” said Seleke.
Seleke further highlighted the significance of this competition and how competitive it is. “It is a massive platform for our players to showcase their talent in tennis, and it is very competitive as countries target to get promoted to the world categories where they get to face big nations such as Spain, France, USA, and Italy. Though we are going to this tournament as underdogs because it is our second time participating, I’m confident that the girls will put in a good showing and emerge with results despite the odds,” highlighted Seleke.
Quizzed about their debut performance at the BJK Cup, he said, “I think our performance was fair considering the fact that we were newbies. We came third in our group after losing to North Macedonia and South Africa. We went on to beat Uganda, then Kenya in the playoffs. Unfortunately, we couldn’t play Burundi due to heavy rainfall and settled for the position 9/10,” he said.
For her part, team representative Leungo Monnayoo said they are working hard as they aim to do well at the tourney. “The preparations for the tourney have long begun because we practice each and every day. We want to do well, hence we need to be motivated. Furthermore, I believe in my team as we have set ourselves a big target of coming home with the trophy,” she said.
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Pep Stores donates sanitary towels to Popagano JSS
The Guidance and Counseling unit at Popagano Junior Secondary School received a donation of 790 sanitary towels from Pep stores on Thursday.
When presenting the donation, Mareledi Thebeng, the Dinokaneng Area Manager, highlighted their belief in giving back to the community, as their existence depends on the communities they serve. Thebeng pointed out that research indicates one in four girls miss school every day due to the lack of basic necessities like sanitary towels. Therefore, as a company, they strive to assist in alleviating this situation. She expressed hope that this donation would help ensure uninterrupted learning for girls.
Upon receiving the donation on behalf of the students, Charity Sambire, the President of the Student Representative Council, expressed her gratitude. Sambire specifically thanked Pep Store for their generous gift, speaking on behalf of the students, especially the girl child.
She conveyed their sincere appreciation for Pep Store’s compassion and quoted the adage, “Blessed is the hand that gives.” Sambire expressed the students’ hope for Pep Stores’ prosperity, enabling them to continue supporting the students. As a gesture of gratitude, the students pledged to excel academically.
During her speech, Motlalepula Madome, the Senior Teacher in Guidance and Counseling, highlighted that many students at the school come from disadvantaged backgrounds where parents struggle to provide basic necessities. Consequently, some students miss school when they experience menstruation due to this lack.
Madome emphasized the significance of the donation in preventing the girl child from missing lessons and its potential to improve the school’s overall results. She expressed the school’s gratitude and expressed a desire for continued support from Pep Stores.
Popagano Junior Secondary School, situated in the Okavango District, holds the second position academically in the North West region. Despite its location, the school has been dedicated to achieving excellence since 2017
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Botswana misses out critical PAP committee meeting
The Pan African Parliament (PAP) committee on gender, family, youth and people with disability in its sitting considered, adopted and recommended to the plenary session the preliminary report on the framework for the model law on gender equality.
According to the last week’s media release from PAP which is sitting with its various committees until June 2nd, the committee is following up the PAP initiative to draw up a model law on gender equality to enable national governments to harmonize, modernize and standardize their legislations to address local needs is set to be discussed in Plenary.
However, what is concerning is the fact that Botswana which is a member state missed the deliberations. Kgosi Mosadi Seboko who sat in the committee representing Botswana has since been ejected by parliament and this is a huge blow for a nation that is still battling equity and gender balance.
“Although PAP has no legislative powers it makes model laws for member states to adopt. PAP also develops protocols to be ratified by countries. The input of countries at Committee state is extremely critical. It now means the voice of Botswana is missing the discussions leading up to development of protocols or model laws,” said one of Botswana’s representative at PAP Dr. Kesitegile Gobotswang who is attending the current session.
While Botswana is missing, the committee meeting took place on the sidelines of the Sixth PAP second ordinary Session being held under the African Union Theme of the Year for 2023, “The Year of AfCFTA: Accelerating the Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area” in Midrand, South Africa and will run up to 2 June 2023. Chairperson of the Committee, Hon Mariam Dao-Gabala expressed satisfaction with preliminary processes undertaken so far towards the formulation of the Model Law,” a release from the PAP website reads.
“The law should be suitable to all countries whatever the predominant culture or religion is. The aim is to give an opportunity to women to participate in the economic, political and social development of the continent. Women are not well positioned and face a lot of obstacles. We are introducing the idea of equity in the Law because we cannot talk about equality without equity,” said Hon Mariam Dao-Gabala in the press statement.
The release has stated that among issues to be covered by the Model Law is the migratory movements of women. The Committee proffered that this has to be addressed at the continental level to ensure that migrant women enjoy all their rights and live with dignity in their destination country. The members of the Gender Committee undertook consultations to consolidate the contributions of the various stakeholders that will be the logical framework format for the Model Law.