I was framed, says Moumakwa

Former Member of Parliament Ezekiel Obakeng Moumakwa is a relieved man after Lobatse High Court granted a defamation judgment against the Botswana Gazette in his favour. Moumakwa opened up about the case that saw Directorate of Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) officials knocking at his office.

Moumakwa, Jerry Chitube and Specially Elected Councillor and the then MP Mephato Reatile were reported to have had their P150 million oil deal foiled by the DCEC. The report led to a standoff between DCEC and the Botswana Gazette, with the former raiding offices of the latter and the arrest of the newspaper journalist and lawyer. It further resulted with DCEC and the Botswana Gazette instituting parallel legal actions against each other. Moumakwa confirmed that on 25 May 2015, four agents from DCEC came to his office requesting him to surrender his cellphone and tablet in accordance with the provisions of the DCEC Act. He also confirmed to this publication a statement leaked from the DCEC, which he gave after the DCEC officials returned his confiscated gadgets.

“The agents advised that allegations had been leveled against me to the effect that on 25 November 2014 I held an official meeting at the Pavillion, Fairgrounds with a representative from Vecto Petroleum.  The allegations further said that the purpose of the meeting was to source fuel for the Botswana Government/Botswana Oil. My intention was to use my position to procure Government fuel through my company Petro Lilac, therefore gaining unfairly. “My response to the allegations was that they were ‘not true’.  I have at no stage been a representative of the Botswana Government/Botswana Oil in procuring fuel.  I am neither a member of Botswana Oil Board of Directors nor do I belong to any of Botswana Oil procurement structures. Admittedly, I work for the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources but my line of duty is far remote to fuel procurement”, he revealed.

The former legislator explained that this was more so that the mandate of procuring fuel was now entrusted with Botswana Oil, a registered private company whose daily operations are completely de-linked from the Ministry activities. In his words, Moumakwa is convinced that someone or some people with ulterior motives framed him, adding that he did not know Chitube at personal level. According to him, he first heard (and read) about Chitube when the print media started writing about the BDP Youth Chairmanship candidate who disappeared in Masunga around January/February 2015, and the stories that followed.

As for Reatile, he acknowledges that he has known him since their early days of Botswana National Front (BNF) activism. He said they were both elected to Botswana National Assembly on BNF ticket in 2004.  “We were associates, maybe not friends. Our association resulted with, among other things, jointly forming Petro Lilac. Sometimes in mid-2014 our relationship soured and we went our separate ways.” Adds the former MP, “Between June/July 2014 and January 2015, I did not hear from Reatile and the reverse is the same. I remember at some point (around August 2014) he made efforts to reach me through cell phone calls but I ignored his calls. I could not therefore have been involved in an oil deal with two gentlemen, one of whom I did not know personally and had never met and the other one, I had neither met, made contact with or any form of communication for almost half a year.”

Moumakwa said he ended up seeking legal recourse against the newspaper, which carried the article because he knew he was not wrong. He approached the court to seek damages amounting to P2 million which he succeeded by order of Court last month. It is for this suit and the return of his gadgets by the DCEC officials that Moumakwa decided to grant the interview.Moumakwa said the 25 November 2014 meeting with a representative from Vecto Petroleum came about after he had had a private discussion with a relative (name withheld). He indicated that the discussion was about the positive responses he was getting for advertised filling station plots across the country and that he needed to firm up fuel sources so that he could prepare a business plan. He did not intend using the majors as sources of fuel because the planned filling stations would use his own brand - Ayo Oil. 

His relative promised to assist and called after a couple of days to say he had found a potential supplier based in South Africa and that the potential supplier would come over to Gaborone if Moumakwa was available.  “I advised that I was available and they could come. The following day the meeting was arranged at The Pavillion. It was attended by my relative in the company of two gentlemen, a white man and a black man. We exchanged greetings, with the white man giving me a business card. The name of the white man was Richard Venn and the company on the business card was Vecto Petroleum”

He indicated that he explained to Venn that he needed a supplier who could do sustainable fuel supply at competitive prices. Moumakwa, knowing that he was due on a trip to Germany and that on his return he had a pre-scheduled meeting on the Trans-Kalahari Railway Line in Johannesburg, proposed that they could meet in Johannesburg to progress their discussions. The Johannesburg meeting did take place at the Intercontinental Hotel, OR Tambo International Airport. Moumakwa was surprised to read from a newspaper that the meeting was “successfully video filmed”. That somehow showed that DCEC agents were set up on him even at the very first meeting. Disappointedly to those who wanted his head, at no stage did he discuss the supply of fuel to Botswana Oil because it was never an action item. It was all private personal business.

He said it took him sometime to solve the puzzle on why the newspaper story linked his name with those of Chitube and Reatile. He declined to divulge the puzzle to this reporter saying it is his understanding that DCEC is still investigating a case of malicious reporting. His hope is that those who knowingly and deliberately raised the false alarm, sending a Government institution in a wild goose chase, which he maintains dragged his name in the mud, would be prosecuted.