Patriot 02

“Balanced & fair”
The Patriot
on sunday
PRICE: P8.00
Sunday, November 18,2012
www.thepatriot.co.bw
Cable theft,
vandalism
cost BTC
two million
Pula
Page 7
Jose Mujica:
The world’s
poorest
president
Page 10
The Land
question in
Botswana
Page 17
Zebras,
Algeria
share spoils
Page 32
Francistown-
Tonota
road to cost
P980million
The cost of the tender allocated
to the new Francistown-Tonota
Road has increased to nine
P980m as compared to the
P768m which was the highest
bid of the same project in 2009,
said Minister of Transport
and Communications Nonofo
Molefhi.
Worker gets million
Pula tender
Security association queries the tender that the council awarded to its driver
He told Parliament that the
project was deferred due to the
global economic meltdown. He
said the increase in the cost of
the project was attributed to,
among other things, inflation
and related cost escalations and
the change in scope of works
to include an interchange at
Thapama Circle.
“Initially the Thapama circle
was to be a signalized junction;
but this has since been changed
to a grade separated junction
looking at the high growth of
traffic along the said road.”
Molefhi was responding to
Kgatleng East MP who had
asked him to state the tender
amount allocated to the new
Francistown-Tonota road
project as compared to the
highest bidded amount for the
same road project whose tender
was floated and closed around
August 2009, but was halted
due to the economic meltdown.
Kgosi
Mudongo
EPHRAIM KEORENG
A
decision by the
Goodhope Sub-District
Council to award one
of its employees a P1.2million
tender for security services is
being queried by the Security
Association of Botswana (SAB)
who suspect possible conflict of
interest
There is suspicion that the
employee and his company called
Choma’s Security might have
had inside information when he
tendered. The owner of Choma
Security, Lapologang Choma
admitted winning the tender
but said any questions about the
issue should be directed to the
Tender Committee who awarded
the tender.
In a letter of complaint to the
council, the SAB accuses Choma
Security of contravening security
tender requirements, and also
using guards without uniforms.
The SAB also raises allegations of
conflict of interest and urges that
the award be set aside.
The council confirmed
receiving the SAB complaint
and forwarded it to the council’s
Appeals Board who rejected the
appeal saying the SAB “has no
basis for claiming that the tender
was not awarded procedurally
for the simple reason that the
association did not participate in
the tender bid”.
The board dismissed the SAB’s
query despite allegations of
possible conflict of interest saying
it did not appeal any decision of
the Adjudication Committee.
Unhappy about the decision,
the SAB, through its chairman
Gaolatlhe Mudongo, appealed
to the Senior Assistant Council
Secretary, Keitumetse Moilwa,
who said their complaint will be
forwarded to the Appeals Board
again.
The SAB was informed that the
Council Secretary has no legal
mandate to review or nullify
decisions of the Adjudication
Committee, “hence the
previous informed action of
forwarding your submission to
Appeals Board. Finally, please
be informed that the previous
Appeals Board resolution on the
matter still stands and the board
would not revisit it,” reads a letter
to the SAB signed by Thebe, for
the Appeals Board chairman.
The SAB copied letters of
complaint to the DIS. DIS
Director-General Isaac Kgosi
said they do not deal with
adjudication matters but vet
security companies. “If the
company you are referring to
is duly registered then we have
vetted it,” he said.
Contacted for comment, Senior
Assistant Council Secretary
Moilwa confirmed that he was
aware of the issue involving the
tender awarded to the council
driver..”But it would be better if
you spoke to the chairman of the
Appeals Board in Kanye.”
SAB chairman Mudongo said
that he cannot discuss the matter
“because the owner of Choma
Security is now a member of our
association. I will have to seek
advice first”.
Crazy Summer Savings
E2550
TFT, 256K Col. Display
1.3MP Camera
Bluetooth, Card Slot
MP3/MP4/WAV Player
Voice Memo
P
475
FREE
2GB Memory
Card
W510
TFT, 256K Col. Display
1.3MP Camera, Video
Bluetooth, Card Slot
Stereo FM Radio with RDS
MP3/AAC+ Player
Voice Memo, Organiser
P
495
305
Asha
TFT touchscreen
2MP Camera, Video
Card Slot, Accelerometer
FM Radio with RDS
MP4/WMV Player
Bluetooth,SNS Integration
Dual SIM (Dual stand-by)
P
975
Great Deal
HTC Smart
TFT Touch Screen
3.5 MP Camera,
Video, Bluetooth
Stereo FM Radio
Card Slot, JAVA
MP3/MP4
WMV9 Player
P
1295
500
TFT touchscreen
Accelerometer sensor
Card Slot, 3G, WLAN
Bluetooth
5 MP Camera, Video
Stereo FM radio, GPS
MP4/WMA Player
Photo editor, Flash Lite 4.0
P
1745
+ FREE MASCOM SIM + FREE MASCOM SIM
+ FREE MASCOM SIM
+ FREE MASCOM SIM
+ FREE MASCOM SIM
9300
Curve
TFT 65K Col. Display
2MP Camera
Bluetooth, Card Slot
A-GPS support, 3G, WLAN
MP3/MP4/eAAC+/WAV
WMA/FLAC Player
P
1995
+ FREE MASCOM SIM
Associated Printers
Station Mall : 3167427 Game City : 3910735 Maun : 6860172 Molepolole : 5920467 Rail Park Mall : 3930925 Palapye : 4924626 Old Lobatse Road : 3901172 Riverwalk : 3700024 Bus Rank : 3915656 Francistown : 2419342 Airport Junction : 3916881
Terms & Conditions apply All prices include VAT, While stocks last, E&OE