The Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism Tshekedi Khama confirmed on Monday that the Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO) Executive Director Tourism Cluster Development, Sally Anne-Follett Smith, has been summoned by officials from the Department of Labour for working without a work permit.
It is reported that the former Wilderness Safaris general manager was approached by government officials and was asked to present documentation regarding her legalities in the country. Upon further inspection, it was discovered that her work permit had already expired and was then immediately detained.
It is not clear how long she has been working illegally without a valid work permit, but the minister denied issuing an instruction for her release.
“She is being put on a waiver for three months. I was phoned and i asked the necessary officer to take care of the issue. I have an open door policy,” said Khama.
Quizzed further on the Zimbabwean-British employment at BTO, Khama said she was employed by the former PS Neil Fit who happened to be the BTO Chairman at the time. PS Ellias Magosi remained cagey on the matter and stated that the full details of the issues are with the BTO CEO and Human Resources Director as they work with her on daily basis.
“Employment matters of BTO are seating at BTO as an entity and both the minister and I did not go to BTO when we got informed on this matter,” said Magosi.
Quizzed on her seating and making decisions at another parastatal – Air Botswana as a member of Board of Directors, Khama stated that Sally Anne-Follett Smith currently has a waiver adding that BTO must qualify her work permit. He stated that he does not know whether the application will be successful or not.
