No Water: Investors directed north
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Gaborone dam and Molatedi dam have been declared failed projects by the Water Utilities Corporation (WUC)
Potential investors in the mining sector this week paid a courtesy visit to Botswana to solicit information on the business environment – in particular whether it’s currently conducive for conducting copper mining, WeekendPost can reveal.
This publication has gathered that the investors, who visited this country through a consultancy, want to set up a mining venture by processing copper into final products as it has been exported to other countries while raw.
It is understood that Business Botswana, formerly Botswana Confederation of Commerce Industry and Manpower (BOCCIM) facilitated their business visit as they viewed it as local investment opportunity despite the country going through water and power crises.
This publication has established that the investors will henceforth weigh their options of investing after gathering first hand and sufficient information on water as well as power conditions in the country.
“Yes it is true Business Botswana brought the investors here, and basically they are doing preliminary investigations in terms of trying to establish the business environment in Botswana especially with regard to the water state of affairs,” a highly classified source at Water Utilities revealed this week, while preferring not to mention the consultancy or names of the investors.
According to the top official, the investors want to establish where they can position the mining venture in terms of water status. The investors are said to have also come to meet different stakeholders like Botswana Power Corporation (BPC), Mining companies, Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources (MMEWR) among others; as they try to explore chances of investment.
“We need to give them facts in this regard. We need to tell them the truth about the current situation we are facing as well as how we are stabilizing the water situation,” the WUC highly placed source indicated.
“So in our view what matters is where they place their investment. If they intend to place it in the south for sure they will face difficulties as severe water crises is felt in the south.”
He said if government is to attract investors, it needs to inject more funds into various projects by Water Utilities so as to help improve the water situation, and at the same time bridging the unemployment gap.
According to the source, funding either from government, loans or private sector remains a big issue in the matter as the corporation continuously tries to lure them to invest in the water sector so as to implement their projects line up and ultimately reach water security. The country has been plunged with a worsening water crises situation and last week it reached an all-time low level – a predicament the immaculate source who sits in the Corporation executive confesses.
According to a WUC statement, Bokaa dam has almost dried up following Gaborone dam which has absolutely dried up at the moment.
“Bokaa dam is currently at 3.5% and might fail at any time. The failure of Bokaa dam will translate into reduced supply as well as a loss of one more source of water for the Greater Gaborone area, following the failure of Gaborone dam – which dried up completely in December 2014,” WUC Corporate Communications Manager Matida Mmipi said in a statement released last week.
As a result, Mmipi states that, with effect from today (Saturday), water rationing days will be intensified from three to four days a week in Gaborone – a move the investors might find arduous for business.
Currently, she said, the Greater Gaborone area’s sources of water are the Bokaa dam, Molatedi dam (also on line to dry up) and the North South Carrier 1 (NSC 1) which transfers water from Dikgatlhong dam to the South. Bokaa dam currently produces 19 million litres a day and NSC 1 harvests 60 million litres a day while Molatedi dam churns out 9.7 million litres per day.
However the Greater Gaborone area’s average water demand is said to be standing at 125 million litres a day. This therefore means the area is running on a water deficit of 37.7 million litres a day and this is expected to drop further, due to the anticipated close down of Bokaa in a few weeks.
In addition, and as a matter of fact, the source told Weekend Post that Bokaa dam is virtually considered failed and Molatedi dam is going down loose as well. “To tell you the truth our hopes are now on rainfall – that is where we can get the water,” he pointed out.
Apart from that he hinted that they put their last hope on the Masama West Well-fields project which is on the offing but would take almost 12 months to be operational. Masama project, which is currently being tested, will augment water to the Greater Gaborone area, and when fully functional it will inject 30 million litres into the NSC 1 a day to water Greater Gaborone area. Masama is 100km from Gaborone en-route Francistown.
Meanwhile NSC 1 which transmits water from the second largest dam, Dikgatlhong, after Gaborone dam feeds the northern part of the country, and additionally augments the south in the current arrangement. In the south the water crises is attributed to flat land and high rate of evaporation.
It is also understood that NSC 1 was never implemented to solve the water problem in the south completely but to augment it, as Greater Gaborone cannot rely on dams from the north as they will eventually dry up, even faster, too.
Information gathered also suggests that Water Utilities is looking for a fourth pump station to push more water to the South with more pressure. With more water in the pipeline, there is likelihood of a breakdown and the fourth pump would serve as back up (spare). The simple logic is that when one pump is down the other would be running.
Although the pipelines used for NSC 1 are said to be of sub-standard material, the project is fully built and now functional. “The Pipelines materials are not exactly what we wanted, we needed steel,” the immaculate source highlighted.
Currently, there is an ongoing project to replace the entire 26 km pipeline as there are already a number of leaks (around 7 to 8) in it. “These leaks cannot be repaired, the repair would take longer as water would have to be drained out of the pipeline (and it’s huge) followed by excavation and then the repairing, so the whole pipeline needs to be replaced. That is why this project is running parallel to the pipeline.”
News
BPS, Mosala Funeral Parlour butt heads over SA national remains
A squabble has broken out between Pule Mosala Funeral Parlour and the Botswana Police Service (BPS) over the remains of a South African national who has been in the Mosala mortuary for more than nineteen months. The deceased was one of 10 suspects who were controversially shot dead during a lengthy shootout with law enforcement authorities in Gaborone’s Phase 2 early last year.
The deceased individual’s family based in Soweto, has encountered difficulties in repatriating the body which has been in the care of Mosala Mortuary Services. Following the incident, it has emerged that all 10 bodies were transported to PFG mortuary in Lobatse for a brief period while the police attempted to locate their next of kin. It is reported that the families of the deceased were eventually identified and informed to come and identify their loved ones, including other South African nationals who were part of the criminal group. These families also witnessed the autopsy procedures conducted at Princess Marina Hospital in Gaborone.
Except for the family from Soweto, nine of the bodies were claimed and taken by their separate relatives. The Soweto family claims they lack the resources to bring the body back to South Africa and has made it known that they are looking for money. To end the supposed verbal agreement over the body’s storage for repatriation, Mosala Funeral Service has filed a case against the police at the Lobatse High Court.
According to Keakantse Mmotlhana, the company’s Sales and Marketing Manager, 10 people who were killed in Phase 2 by gunfire were all temporarily transferred to one of PFG’s branches in Lobatse by the police while efforts were made to find their next of kin. She expressed outrage at the statement made by the Minister of Defense and Security, recently.
After Assistant Police Commissioner Dipheko Motube called her office to apologize for giving the Minister wrong information during a news conference, she confirmed that they had accepted the apologies. He made it clear that one of the victims was still at Pule Mortuary in Lobatse.
Bushie Mosala, the director and owner of Mosala Funeral Services, confirmed that the body of a South African national has been in his mortuary for the past nineteen months. He expressed his desire for the police to remove the corpse from the mortuary, characterising the situation as a “nightmare.” He has instructed his legal team to file a lawsuit against the police in the Lobatse High Court concerning the body.
Mosala urged the acting Police Commissioner to come forward and apologize to the nation for the situation, asserting that the public has the right to know the truth regarding the body of the South African national, w
C -002Bhich was preserved by the police as evidence.
The South African High Commission in Gaborone had not responded to queries from Weekend Post at the time going of going to press.
News
BOSETU frustrated by Gov’t new dispute winning strategy
Botswana Sectors of Teachers Union (BOSETU) has expressed alarm over a troubling trend by the government. Tobokani Rari, Secretary General of the BOSETU, stated that it appears that these days, whenever there is a dispute between workers and the government, the administration is fast to run to the courts to attempt and muffle unions.
“This is quite disturbing development, we have seen it with the Botswana Doctors Union, there was a disagreement over the shift allowance, government rushed to court, they indeed got order that was saying the doctors should go and do the work. We have seen it with the nurses, they rushed to court they got the order, we are now seeing it with the teachers, they rushed to the court and they got what they wanted,” said Rari, who also served as the Secretary General of BOFEPUSU.
Rari raised concerns that the government’s enforcement of teacher’s work, through a court order will result in reduced classroom productivity and morale. Rari added that this situation would negatively impact labour relations and teachers emotional wellbeing due to dissatisfaction in their work places leading to persistently poor academic outcomes.
“You can get an order that forces people to work, but what happens at work, it heightens emotions, it destroys relationships and the morale goes down and productivity does. Courts and judgments don’t solve productivity issues. Productivity only comes when people are satisfied at the workplace, so if you force them to work through a court order then you may not get the maximum out of the working population,” said Rari
MESD vs BOSETU COURT CASE
“As you are aware, the Ministry of Education approached courts and they were demanding three things from the court in this case between BOSETU and the ministry. First, they were demanding that the joint letter that was written by BOSETU and Botswana Teachers Union (BTU) asking members to stop doing course work because there was no agreement be declared unlawfully and BOSETU should write to its members and withdraw that letter within 24hrs. The second thing that they were looking for, was to interdict BOSETU from further issuing any instructions to that effect going forward. Lastly was that court should hold BOSETU to pay the cost of the lawsuit on a punitive scale,” Rari said.
Rari stated that the court decided to rule in favour of the Ministry of Education on all three relieves sought, that the savingram should be declared unlawful, that BOSETU should withdraw the contents savingram within 24hrs.
Court also said BOSETU should not issue any of such instructions going forward up until the case of contempt that BOSETU has taken to court, the contempt of the 2009 judgment has been decided. Court also awarded cost to the ministry on a punitive scale.
“BOSETU is a law abiding citizen and therefore we are bound by any laws and judgments that are there in Botswana and arise on the courts of Botswana hence we have complied with the order. On the 31st after the court case, we wrote to all our members and told them that the contents of that savingram as far as coursework is concerned has been withdrawn,” said Rari.
Rari said what happened in this case is that the judge decided to listen to the urgency without the responding affidavits of the opposing party, BOSETU, and went on to rule the merit of the case, which surprised the union.
“However we have been in discussion with our lawyers because if we leave things like this, we feel like we cannot leave that unchallenged. We have taken a decision to appeal the judgment,” Rari confirmed.
2023 COURSEWORK AND INVIGILATION AGREEMENT
“We would like to make our members aware that the following day after the judgment, we were able to meet the Ministry of Education and we have arrived at a conclusion that we signed an agreement that coursework rates will be increased by 5%. If court had ruled that coursework is the duty of the teachers’ means it wouldn’t have been any agreement after the court case, it tells you that the issue is still open and it is on the table. We have arrived at an agreement that there is going to be an increment on all components of coursework and invigilation,” Rari pointed out.
Rari further explained that Article 2 says union party is to submit detailed proposals on the intensity of the coursework for further engagement. Intensity of coursework means where the coursework payment starts in terms of varying from different subjects. He said the outcome based subject that are taught Maun Senior Secondary School and Moeng college which are agriculture and hotel and tourism is that ministry have agreed and acknowledge that there are some peculiarity in their coursework and therefore should be paid in line with the peculiarities that are contained in their coursework.
CONGRESS RESOLUTION
Rari pointed out the resolutions taken at the conference where the issue of application of corporal punishment was addressed. “BOSETU will issue out a memo to their members to advise them that they should not apply corporal punishment, they should leave it to be applied in line with the Education Act.”
News
BMC sees red as mass buffaloes disrupt plans to supply schools
The Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) which had struck a deal with the Ministry of Education to supply some schools in the northern part of the country is counting losses as mass migration of buffalos jeopardize the Commission’s plans.
Information reaching this publication shows that the beef exporter was recently given the greenlight to supply government schools with beef. According to documents seen by this publication, as a result BMC had scheduled to buy and collect cattle in the Nata-Gweta and Boteti constituencies from 11 to 17 September.
This was after BMC and the Ministry of Education struck a deal for the former to supply government schools with beef. Letters exchanged between Ministry officials state that it has been recommended to the ministry to support BMC by allowing it to supply schools with beef products.
The Ministry indicated that it was aware that some schools have contracts that are currently running with suppliers such as local butcheries.
The Ministry revealed that at the same time BMC has 256 tins of frozen quality meat at its Maun Plant.
The Ministry requested the Director-Regional Operations to appoint an officer to manage the procurement of meat for schools that do not currently have running contracts. The Ministry further stated that Modalities of collection will be arranged between the region and the schools identified.
According to the Ministry, a list of schools including the condition of their cold rooms and their number of deliveries and kilograms per week they buy should be compiled. The Ministry also requested its officials to share the list with headquarters and the acting director-Basic Education, and engage BMC accordingly to procure.
But this plan ran into trouble after it emerged that between 300 to 500 buffalos migrated from the buffalo fence area to Nata, Dukwi and Mosetse areas.
The Department of Veterinary Services sprang into acting by revising movement protocol for cloven-hoofed animals with immediate effect following buffalo sightings in zone 3b which covers Nata/Sowa, zone 3c which is around the Dukwi areas as well as zone 6a, which covers the Mosetse area, which fall under zones, 3b, 3c, 5,6a and 8.
The Department of Veterinary Services indicated that as a result, movement of live cloven-hoofed animals and their products out of zones 3b, 3c, 5, 6a and 8 were prohibited and that movement of live cloven-hoofed animals within and into these zones is only allowed for direct slaughter at licensed slaughter facilities under veterinary movement permit issued through BAITS.
The department also indicated that the movement of fresh products derived from cloven-hoofed animals such as raw milk, skins and fresh meat into these zones is also only allowed under a similar arrangement.
Movement of live cloven-hoofed animals into these zones for rearing and other purposes will not be allowed, and farmers and the general public is requested to continue being vigilant and report any buffalo sightings to the nearest veterinary office, the police or the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, the department said.
Meanwhile the Ministry of Agriculture has stated that following the press release on prohibition of movement of live cloven-hooved animals and their products in and out of Zones 3b, 3c, 5, 6a & 8, the acting Minister of Agriculture Karabo Gare, his counterpart Acting Minister of Environment, Wildlife & Tourism Mabuse Pule, acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture Mr. Joshua Moloi, Director of Veterinary Services Dr Kefentse Motshegwa and other government officials visited the areas of Sepako and Dukwi respectively on a mission to consult with communities regarding the invasion of the places by buffalos.
Minister Gare alluded that they have been sent by the President of Botswana, who is equally worried by the current situation. He noted that the affected areas have a total of around 300000 cattle and if the situation goes unchecked, there might be detrimental effects on the economy of this country.
He encouraged the communities to help government going forward by reporting any spotted buffalos in their areas, emphasizing that buffalos are dangerous and can kill people and that care should be exercised at all times.
The Director of Veterinary Services mentioned that they closed the above mentioned zones to allow for testing of buffalos & cattle for foot & mouth disease. The wildlife department’s Director Mr. Moremi Batshabang assured farmers and the community that they will eliminate small clusters of buffalos found within communities and translocate larger clusters to ensure their safety.