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NEWS: OVER 100 CHINESE NATIONALS OPERATING INDEPTH: BOFEPUSU PUTS MPS ON PAGE 3 BUSINESSES RESERVED FOR CITIZENS PAGE 11 NOTICE ABOUT MEDIA LAW August 9 - 15, 2020 EXCELLENCE IS STANDARD PRACTICE PRICE: P12.50 www.sundaystandard.info @SunStd_bw Mosepele puts Masisi on the spot The jury is still out on whether Professor Mosepele’s resignation letter will force President Masisi’s hand to resolve the Government enclaves’ two centers of power – Writes SUNDAY STANDARD REPORTER he Facebook was weeping Professor Mosepele, Coordinator layer of bureaucrats who stay on from buckets Friday afternoon. of the Covid 19 Task Force, Dr Kereng president to president, burrowed deep Hardly fi ve minutes after the Masupu and Director of Health in ministries across the government TSunday Standard broke the Services Dr Malaki Tshipiyagae have enclave has started pushing back news that deputy coordinator emerged as the three most visible faces against the Covid-19 Presidential Task of the Covid 19 Presidential Task Team of Botswana’s fi ght against coronavirus. team. Professor Mosepele Mosepele had The trio however is also fi ghting a So far leaks have been the primary tendered his resignation, a multitude bruising turf war with the government way that entrenched bureaucrats, have of Batswana converged online to pour enclave’s powerful (Performance sought to undermine the task team. their hearts out. Improvement Committee) PIC Force Allegations that the Covid-19 Four hours and thousands of headed by Permanent Secretary to the Presidential Task Team is the Facebook posts later, the Offi ce of President (PSP) Elias Magosi. government enclave bully pulpit has the President stepped in to soothe the Several combustible factors have made the trio, especially Masupu and nation’s frayed nerves. come together to create this bust-up. Tshipiyagae lightning rods in Masisi’s “The president has not accepted The fi rst is that the tree outsiders, who new inner circle, readymade-villains Professor Mosepele’s resignation and make up the Covid-19 Presidential task for critics who accuse them of riding has scheduled a meeting with him team fi t awkwardly with the permanent roughshod over the civil service. tomorrow”, said a press statement government bureaucracy. But when a respected career from the president’s spokesperson Masisi’s predecessors have relied civil servant in former Permanent Batlhalefi Leagajang. on their PSPs to run the show at Secretary in the Ministry of Health For now, it is touch and go the government enclave. Today, an and Wellness Solomon Sekwakwa whether President Mokgweetsi Masisi unfortunate confl uence of a deadly was fi red earlier this year because of will manage to persuade Professor pandemic and a presidential inner what he claimed was a vicious and Mosepele to stay on. Indications are circle with no background in science orchestrated campaign by his Director that there will be lots of tears and has meant the power is shared with of Wellness Malaki Tshipiyagae, what blood on the fl oor before bedtime. the three outsiders who are serving as began as a juicy subordinate-from- President Masisi who fi nds himself a point of key information, unity and hell story turned into a metaphor straddling a widening chasm at the calm in the country’s response to the for the Presidential Covid-19 Task government enclave has his job cut out. pandemic. Team’s broader tensions with Botswana’s much vaunted civil service. In an instructive anecdote, Sekwakwa told Sunday Standard how Professor Mosepele Mosepele and Permanent Secretary to the president (PSP) Elias Magosi conversing together at a special parliament session the task team wanted him to unfairly dismiss a certain technical offi cer from the ministry. “I ignored that and Gov’t to start paying Faced with the Covid-19 circle, plunging the government enclave offi ce came with the intent to clean the certain to take opposing views on continued with my work,” he said. He emergency, President Masisi created the into a turf war, mired in confl ict and stables. Hardly two months in offi ce, major issues - a dynamic that is playing believes that is what cost him his job. COVID-19 Presidential Task Team on discord. he fi red former president Lt Gen Ian itself out in the government’s response With the former Permanent backpays end of Sept the fl y. He personally pulled together The jury is still out on whether Khama’s holdover, Isaac Kgosi as head to the pandemic. Secretary’s bitter exit, a feud that a high-powered group of suits to help Professor Mosepele’s resignation letter of the Directorate of Intelligence and Covid-19 constant crisis SUNDAY STANDARD REPORTER had been brewing behind closed was immediately moved to budget fi ght the pandemic. The president will force President Masisi’s hand to Security, and replaced him with the management has however consolidated doors spilled into the open. It was a for coronavirus. anointed the Covid-19 Presidential task resolve the Government enclaves’ two PSP’s cousin Peter Magosi. Next in Masisi’s relationship with the Covid-19 startling break with decorum for the The minister for presidential af- Speaking with the Sunday Stan- team with the same access and some centers of power. the President’s line of fi re was former Presidential Task Team, much to the civil service, in which disputes are fairs and public administration dard ahead of meeting with trade insiders say authority as his PSP. The Permanent Secretary to the Permanent Secretary to the President chagrin of Botswana’s establishment worked out privately and offi cials like Kabo Morwaeng has once again unions, Morwaeng confi rmed The new and powerful layer President (PSP), Elias Magosi however Cater Morupisi. State House insiders men. There is a sense that this new Sekwakwa shun the limelight. promised public service trade that government is now ready to of bureaucrats with a direct line to is no pushover. A morally upright and say for a long time, the two Magosi’s “crisis structure” has evolved beyond The biggest coup for the Task unions that Government will start honour its obligations to public the president are special appointees feisty career bureaucrat who prides were the fi rst people the president saw the initial brief and has become Team, however was President Masisi’s paying the money that had been offi cers. who do not exist in the civil service himself on his skill in pulling the in the morning and the last he saw something of a kitchen cabinet to decision to give them absolute promised to public employees as “We shall start paying by end establishment register. The group was levers of government and in offering at night. Then came the three Covid President Masisi. There are growing command in the fi ght against the increments by end of September. of September. That’s a fact,” said personally hand-picked by President unvarnished advice to a changing cast 19 Presidential Task Force doctors, fears that it has marginalized the pandemic, shunting Minister of Health The 10 and 6 percent increas- minister Morwaeng who is also Masisi and is perceived as the of politicians is a dyed in the wool splitting the government enclave into cabinet and civil service and reduced and Wellness Dr Lemogang Kwape es were due to start in April but Member of Parliament for Mole- “captains picks” who wield unfettered Masisi man. two centers of power. the transparency of government government could not as money polole South. power. The task team has burrowed President Masisi who is approaching All fi ve have easy access to decision making. itself into President Masisi’s inner the half way mark of his fi rst term in President Masisi. And they’re all but The “permanent government” CONTINUES ON PG 2 KHONANI ONTEBETSE board cannot account for more than P2.6 million which went missing be- Thousands of Batswana blue col- Industrial class workers’ multi-million Pula savings heist tween 2013 and 2019. There is an addi- lar workers have been bilked out of tional P6.1 million in unaccounted for Millions of Pula in personal savings • Millions missing, fund broke, workers impoverished expenditure and questionable overtime invested with the Local, Central and paid to executives, for the same period. Parastatal Workers Savings and Credit With an initial membership of Registered in 2006, LCGPW SAC- day Standard drew upon internal docu- Further investigations by the Sun- of LCGPW SACCOS board members LCGPW SACCOS is also unable to ac- Co-operative Society Ltd (LCGPW more than 5000 industrial class public COS mobilized members to save and ments, letters and investigation reports day Standard confi rmed Serame’s mis- and executives. count for a number of its assets among SACCOS). service, parastatal, private and non- create a pool of funds from which they provided by sources. sive of doom and gloom. According to the report by Ma- them, plots and vehicles. Sunday Standard investigations have governmental organizations workers would get loans at competitive and af- A letter dated 4th December 2019 A report from an investigation con- hube Consultancy, between 2017 and The report further revealed that turned up documents detailing a web who are members of the National fordable rates. by the Minister of Investment, Trade ducted at the instance of the Director 2019, LCGPW SACCOS board mem- the fund’s former Chairperson and of shady business arrangements that Amalgamated Workers Union, LCG- But to an extent not previously and Industry Peggy Serame addressed for Co-operative Developments at the bers misappropriated more than P2.7 Vice Chairperson (names know to this steered millions of Pula in workers’ PW SACCOS’ unique strength derived known, a primary activity of LCGPW to members paints a bleak picture of Ministry of Investment, Trade and In- million from the fund while executives publication) were suspended from the savings to LCGPW SACCOS execu- from its sizable membership, whose SACCOS’ executives and board mem- a fund brought to its knees by fl agrant dustry sheds light into how members embezzled at least P2.1 million for the board in November 2017.
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