- DIS cleared contractor of corruption - Rock formations in Kanye contributed to delays - Residents refuse meagre compensation for relocation
Minister of Finance Ndaba Gaolathe delivered his budget speech proposal on Monday, and there was one item that captivated the imagination of the public - the Kanye Sanitation Project.
Gaolathe cited the Kanye Sanitation Project as an example of recurring issues of over-expenditure in Water and Sanitation projects caused by persistent cost overruns. The Kanye Sanitation Project had an original contract sum of P724.96 million, but incurred cost overruns of P2.90 billion leading to a revised contract sum of P3.63 billion.
"This is unacceptable going forward, and I have already stated measures now being put in place to curb or avoid this," Gaolathe said.
This is one of the issues that was extensively debated about Gaolathe's maiden speech as the Minister of Finance under the new Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC). In fact, the morbid opinion was that rampant corruption was responsible for "the cost overruns".
Investigations by Botswana Guardian revealed that the project that was initially awarded at P724.96 million nine years ago to Estate Construction had so many underlining issues that Gaolathe could have deliberately ignored or was not informed about.
This four-year contract is now 97 percent complete and on February 12, 2025 the Director of Lands Services and his team were dispatched to Kanye to sweet talk some residents to accept the government’s compensation to relocate so that they pave way for the completion of the project.
The delegation returned to Gaborone empty-handed because residents wanted better compensation.
"We were assigned to convince the residents to accept the compensation but they refused saying it is peanuts. There is no way the project will be completed if the residents resist the government compensation," a senior government employee said.
"If the contractor does not have access to the site how do you expect them to complete the work on time?"
Another issue that the Minister who doubles as the Vice President ignored is a geotechnical assessment conducted by Africon Consultants which at pre-construction stage anticipated eight percent of the total excavation to be a rock against 30 per cent of the sewage works that was anticipated.
It was later found that there was more rock existence than the anticipated eight percent. In fact, that rock shot for over 100 percent.
It was also realised that Kanye and surrounding areas did not have burrow material for back filling. The contractor was forced to source burrow material from commercial sources in Lobatse and other areas.
"This also shot the original quantities in the bill," the source said. Excess overhaul also increased the bill. "It must also be highlighted that the client failed to facilitate mining permits and the Environmental Impact Assessment."
This is one of the contracts which was investigated for years by the security task team comprising the Directorate on Intelligence and Security (DIS), Botswana Police Service, Financial Intelligence
Agency, Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime and Botswana Unified Revenue Service for four years.
During that period the project came to a standstill until the DIS cleared the contractor.
Gaolathe cited the Kanye Sanitation Project as an example of recurring issues of over-expenditure in Water and Sanitation projects caused by persistent cost overruns. The Kanye Sanitation Project had an original contract sum of P724.96 million, but incurred cost overruns of P2.90 billion leading to a revised contract sum of P3.63 billion.
"This is unacceptable going forward, and I have already stated measures now being put in place to curb or avoid this," Gaolathe said.
This is one of the issues that was extensively debated about Gaolathe's maiden speech as the Minister of Finance under the new Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC). In fact, the morbid opinion was that rampant corruption was responsible for "the cost overruns".
Investigations by Botswana Guardian revealed that the project that was initially awarded at P724.96 million nine years ago to Estate Construction had so many underlining issues that Gaolathe could have deliberately ignored or was not informed about.
This four-year contract is now 97 percent complete and on February 12, 2025 the Director of Lands Services and his team were dispatched to Kanye to sweet talk some residents to accept the government’s compensation to relocate so that they pave way for the completion of the project.
The delegation returned to Gaborone empty-handed because residents wanted better compensation.
"We were assigned to convince the residents to accept the compensation but they refused saying it is peanuts. There is no way the project will be completed if the residents resist the government compensation," a senior government employee said.
"If the contractor does not have access to the site how do you expect them to complete the work on time?"
Another issue that the Minister who doubles as the Vice President ignored is a geotechnical assessment conducted by Africon Consultants which at pre-construction stage anticipated eight percent of the total excavation to be a rock against 30 per cent of the sewage works that was anticipated.
It was later found that there was more rock existence than the anticipated eight percent. In fact, that rock shot for over 100 percent.
It was also realised that Kanye and surrounding areas did not have burrow material for back filling. The contractor was forced to source burrow material from commercial sources in Lobatse and other areas.
"This also shot the original quantities in the bill," the source said. Excess overhaul also increased the bill. "It must also be highlighted that the client failed to facilitate mining permits and the Environmental Impact Assessment."
This is one of the contracts which was investigated for years by the security task team comprising the Directorate on Intelligence and Security (DIS), Botswana Police Service, Financial Intelligence
Agency, Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime and Botswana Unified Revenue Service for four years.
During that period the project came to a standstill until the DIS cleared the contractor.
