Batswana are served crumbs in the skills share pie at local retail giant Choppies Enterprises Limited with top positions reserved for foreign nationals.
The Telegraph has established that almost 100 percent of Choppies executive management structures remain in control of foreign nationals predominantly those of Indian origin.
While the retail giant undertook a campaign to localize managerial positions the changes effected, it has become apparent, were largely limited to store managers with most senior positions remaining in the hands of expatriates.
Choppies chief executive officer (CEO) Ramachandran Ottapathu shied away from addressing the issue at hand saying our questions “are too intrusive.”
“We cannot share any personal details with you. You need to approach the Labour Department,” he said.
The Telegraph sought to know why almost all of the executive management positions are in the hands of foreign nationals while there are qualified citizens who can take over the roles.
Efforts to get answers from the Department of Labour under the Ministry of Employment Labour Productivity and Skills Development on why the government continued to issue work visas for skills and qualifications readily available in Botswana also bore no fruit as the Ministry did not respond to our enquiries.
At least nine out of ten executive management positions under Choppies Enterprises Limited are held by expatriates.
The Deputy CEO position is held by a South African national. The Finance Manager, Chief Financial Officer, Head of IT, Chief Operating Officer, Head of Marketing, Chief Buyer, Regional Manager South and Regional Manager North are all occupied by foreigners of Indian origin.
The only senior management position held by a Motswana, The Telegraph has learnt, is the Human Resource Manager.
The Marketing Manager’s position was previously held by a Motswana Otsile Marole-Gaothuse who has since left the company.
The company also stands accused for some call unreasonable disparities in salaries paid to expatriates as compared to locals.
The retail giant, The Telegraph has learnt, pays expatriate workers incredibly higher wages than their citizen colleagues.
The CEO’s salary has also been under the spotlight in recent years with the new Board reportedly reviewing his P1 million monthly salary.
“Ottapathu’s P10.5 million annual salary has been slashed by 43 percent to facilitate the introduction of short incentives. His monthly salary of over P1 million has been severely criticized by observers, citing the major pay disparity between the CEO and the lowest paid cashiers and stock packers, who earn less than P2, 000 per month,” Sunday Standard reported in 2020.
Ram was expected to get a huge pay cut seen as part of the deal to stay on as CEO of the retailer while a replacement was being sought.
Ram fought a bitter battle with Choppies old board which suspended him for alleged misconduct. He eventually managed to swing majority shareholders’ votes in his favor, managing to replace the old board and being reinstated as CEO.
The CEO, credited with turning Choppies into a retail powerhouse, has previously defended the pay disparity, noting that the company pays its staff according to the country’s prescribed minimum wage. The previous Board, chaired by former president Festus Mogae, had suspended Ram over a series of allegations involving possible fraud and gross negligence that risked the collapse of the retail chain giant.
Choppies’ inner dirty workings became public in 2018 when the company failed to publish its audited results after new auditors picked up shoddy accounting practices that distorted the true financial position of the company. Choppies consequently lost over 70 percent of its share price, and was later suspended from trading both on the Botswana Stock Exchange and Johannesburg Stock Exchange for non-compliance.
Then Board Chair Mogae accused Ram of running a one man show by disregarding the board and taking unilateral decisions.
It became apparent at the tense Extraordinary General Meeting that Choppies board had been reduced to a lame duck one, carefully selected to simply rubberstamp the CEO’s decisions. Mogae admitted that they allowed Ottapathu to do as he pleases because they trusted him.
