After five years of investigations by the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC), a Deputy Director at the Ministry of Local Government, was dragged to court and charged with two counts of corruption.
Last week Friday, Masego Mooketsi, 44, appeared briefly before Chief Magistrate Barnabas Nyamazabo at the Gaborone Village Court, facing two counts of corruption in which a plea was reserved until the next mention.
In the first count, the charge sheet states that on the 7th of October, 2005 Mooketsi, being the deputy director at the Ministry of Local Government and a member of the Ministerial Tender Committee, a public body charged with the awarding of tenders, knowingly failed to disclose her interest in the awarded tender of RV Management Consultancy Services (Pty) Ltd, which was under the directorship of Morekwe Mokala, a cousin to Mooketsi, and participated in the proceedings of the said committee.
In an alternative charge, Mooketsi is accused of failing to disclose the nature of her interest in the said awarded tender and Oupa Mogale Molefe whilst the said Molefe had a relationship of a financial nature with Mooketsi.
The second count states that on the 14th of September 2007 the accused failed to disclose her interest in the awarding of a tender for a training project to RV Management Consultancy Engineering (Pty) Ltd, a company under the directorship of Morekwe Mokala, a cousin to Mooketsi.
Mooketsi is also accused of failing to disclose her interest in the engineering consultancy company in which both she and Molefe had a relationship of a financial nature.
The Chief Magistrate told the court that, “I have to recuse myself from the case because she was my classmate at the University of Botswana and the case will be taken by another magistrate.”
Mooketsi is out on P2 000 bail and her second court appearance is scheduled for the 26th of this month.
Prosecutor Samantha Mbikwa said they are ready for trial and plan to bring about eight witnesses to testify against the accused person.
Mooketsi is represented by Isaac Bahuma.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Permanent Secretary of Local Government, Peter Mongwaketse, said, “Mooketsi has long been interdicted from work, maybe two years or more.”
He said at one stage she wrote to the ministry requesting that the investigations be fast tracked.
In a short space of time, the former Director of Directorate of Public Service Management, Pearl Matome, was sacked from her post early this year and was also dragged to court on corruption charges.
She is expected to appear before the court sometime this week.
