CEDA’s shady cabal exposed

A declaration of war on corruption by the CEO of CEDA, Thabo Thamane, has set him on a collision course with disgruntled employees challenging their dismissal after they were found guilty of contravening the Agency’s conditions of service.

Thamane recently vowed to rid CEDA of corrupt employees in a bid to restore its integrity and trust. Subsequent to introducing the declaration, Thamane was quoted extensively in the local media vowing to discipline corrupt employees who actively violate CEDA policies and procedures. “We have to restore Batswana’s trust in us because we are custodians of public funds,” said Thamane.

The ink had hardly dried on his statement before CEDA was called once again to defend its stance last week at the Francistown Industrial Court where one of its employees, Victor Chivasera who was dismissed after being allegedly found guilty of negligence and contravening the Agency’s rules and regulations, had challenged the decision.   Representing CEDA, attorney Doctor Pusoentsi of Modimo & Associates argued that   Thamane’s decision was procedurally and substantively fair and therefore Chivasera's application for reinstatement must be dismissed because his relationship with CEDA has broken down irretrievably and “he is not entitled to any compensation,”.

BG News has learnt that Chivasera was dismissed in the wake of a P900 000 corruption scandal that was allegedly exposed by a routine patrol by the law enforcement agencies which culminated in the arrest of illegal immigrants who were working at a construction site. It is said that upon being apprehended, the illegal immigrants allegedly revealed that they were employed by a certain Kabelo Moalosi who worked as Portfolio Executive - Services at CEDA Palapye Branch. Further investigations revealed that CEDA had recently awarded a P900 000 loan to a certain Modiro Moalosi to construct a guest house at the same plot at which the illegal immigrants were arrested.

It is said Modiro Moalosi turned out to be Kabelo Moalosi’s mother. Kabelo Moalosi later confessed to a forensic investigations team that had been commissioned by CEDA that he prepared and submitted the loan application on behalf of his mother. He also allegedly informed his two colleagues - Victor Chivasera and Malebogo Moseki - about the project. Chivasera, who was employed as Team Leader, received the application and later allocated it to Moseki for processing.

The Investigations also revealed that Moalosi, Moseki and Chivasera are members of the same church. It is further alleged that Moalosi was actively involved in the appraisal of the loan application as he captured critical documents into the CEDA computer system. He also allegedly conducted site visits and filled out the Loan Appraisal Report. The loan application in question was allegedly later recommended for approval and endorsed by Chivasera.

Having satisfied themselves the forensic team later reported that Moalosi had violated principles of conflict of interest as defined by the Corruption and Economic Act and the CEDA Conditions of Service. Both Chivasera and Moseki were accused of negligence as they disbursed payments without verifying that indeed work had been done.

Subsequent to their investigation CEDA forensic team concluded that both Chivasera and Moseki were negligent in their duty because they both never met, saw the owner of the project  and, or engaged her in any way, but instead proceeded to pay the contractors without any building inspection certificates to confirm that work had been done. Based on the above, CEDA dismissed the trio of Chivasera, Moseki and Moalosi. Chivasera has since launched an application challenging his dismissal. The parties will file their submissions in July while judgment will be delivered in August 2018.