Publicly listed – Sefalana Holdings Limited this week received its share of bad publicity after what appears to be the group’s entanglement at the newly setup national lottery.
Sefalana, which is a Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) quoted company, has been caught in the web of a boardroom brawl at the company (Growmine Africa) that was named the national lottery operator by the Gambling Authority in June this year.
Growmine Africa is a consortium of well-known Botswana entrepreneurs, a powerful lot that has been described by other bidders as a climb against a slippery slope, given the company’s entrenched vast network that spans corporate and politics.
Growmine’s main shareholder is Sefalana Group which reportedly invested about P4.5 million to become the largest individual shareholder with 40 percent stake.
Other shareholder in the lottery operator is Colmar Enterprises, which has a 23 percent stake in Grow mine. Among Colmar’s shareholders are former Puma Energy boss Mahube Mpugwa, former president Ian Khama’s nephews Dale Seretse and Marcus Patrick Khama Ter Haar, newly re-elected Botswana Football Association president and entrepreneur Maclean Letshwiti. Yarona Media Holdings’ investors Percy Raditladi and Moatlhodi Lekaukau, Itumeleng Ramsden and Frederick Selolwane.
Top government contractor Pula Consultants owner Carthage Ringo Matlhaga holds 10.3 percent in Grow Mine through Carthlee Inventions Pty Ltd. Popular lawyer Parks Tafa has a 10 percent stake in the lottery winner through Idlehill Pty Ltd.
This week, Sefalana group was at pain to explain to its existing shareholders about a letter reportedly written by one of the founding directors who also doubles as Growmine chief executive – Percy Raditladi in which he alleged ‘ill-treatment’ by Sefalana.
Confirming Raditladi’s outburst this past week, Sefalana group ran short of words to call him a liar. The Sefalana board’s shareholder communique further stated that Raditladi’s letter contains a plethora of factual inaccuracies and matters that have been incontrovertibly taken out of context.
“From the inception of Sefalana’s involvement in Growmine, we have committed every effort to establish a transparent and bona fide regulatory compliance structure and in doing so we have challenged a number of matters that have been brought to our attention. Mr Raditladi is ostensibly disgruntled by this,” reads part of the statement issued to Sefalana shareholders by the board.
The board further assured shareholders that the bad blood in the country’s old boys’ network will not force the group to take an unlawful path.
