The Botswana Marketing Board (BAMB) has asked the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) to investigate how it nearly lost P18 million to a local company which was contracted by the Executive Committee without following procurement procedures.
Sunday Standard can reveal that the local company, Royal Basic (Pty) Lt T/A Touch Africa Group was improperly contracted to supply BAMB with sorghum at P 18.925 000.00.
Royal Basic which is owned by Ronald Showa was incorporated in 2018 and re-registered in 2019.
According to official documents, the company last filed its annual returns on 23rd September 2022 but BAMB is struggling to locate its directors to account for the advance payment of P3 million (3 785 000.00) to supply 1000 metric tonnes of sorghum as part of the P18 million contract agreement.
According to documents passed to the Sunday Standard, the contract was signed on the 8th of March 2022 and Royal basic paid more than P3 million upfront, the Director of the company Ronald Showa and his associates were supposed to deliver 1000 metric tonnes of grade 1 of sorghum but only delivered 195 metric tonnes of grade 2 of sorghum.
This led to the suspension of some executives with some resigning from work on their own volition. The suspensions include the chief executive officer Dr Benjamin Ditsele and Board Chairperson Onkemetse Thomas.
The BAMB is not new to controversy. The agency last year dropped its CEO Leonard Morakaladi under dubious circumstances.
The new CEO and Board Chairperson are being accused of failure to adhere to due diligence process in the procurement process as prescribed in the new Public Procurement Act.
Sunday Standard is in possession of tender documents that led to the high level suspensions.
A source closer to the BAMB boardroom war has revealed that the toxic relationship between management and the Board started when Head of Business Development and Retail Operations Oabona Dadani was suspended from duty and her contract not renewed.
It is understood that Dadani was tasked with the procurement process and engaged Royal Basic to supply sorghum to the tune of P18 million. P3 million was paid upfront but the company failed to supply and disappeared.
Sunday Standard is also in possession of documents which show that Dadani approved a proforma invoice and signed the contract.
Sunday Standard investigations further show that Dinah Kesebonye (former head of Finance) approved the P 18.925 000.00 tender and the CEO authorized the payment as the bank signatory.
It is understood that the lapse and lack of adherence to due diligence in the procurement processes was also necessitated by the fact that the company never tendered for the supply of the stock. It was referred and picked by management because the “stock procurement” like buying sorghum is exempted from procurement regulations at BAMB.
