BG correspondent
The Khwai Development Trust (KDT) has reacted with shock to Botswana Tourism Organization’s unveiled attack on it and the community they represent over the controversial tender for Concession Area of NG 18.
KDT recently signed a partnership with businessman Greg Butler of Soren Lindstrom Safaris Pty Ltd (SLS). SLS brought to the Joint Venture Partnership (JVP) a partner-Safari Adventure Company (SAC) - a subsidiary of Okavango Wilderness Safaris listed in the Botswana Stock Exchange.
SAC owns 70% of SLS. The JVP allows SLS/SAC to run and operate a five-star 40-bed lodge in the Khwai concession area NG 18 at an annual sub-lease rent of P2.5 million. However, the JVP has been marred by controversy from inception with KDT accusing BTO of imposing SLS on them and not running the tender openly.
Prior to BTO being “brought to the picture” KDT and the community had an active role in their tender processes. However in 2009 when BTO was invited by the MEWT to “facilitate a tender process for the identification” of a JVP for KDT, they virtually relegated KDT to casual observers in their own tender. A recent report from the Auditor General described BTO as “having adopted a ‘big brother mentality’ and being ‘the TAC’ when it came to issues of tendering.”
SLS was then allowed to bid for the NG 18 tender despite BTO being apprised of the bad blood between KDT and SLS. Though in a recent interview BTO’s CEO Myra Sekgororoane claimed ignorance of this factor, BTO’s Tourism Development
Officer in Maun Bigani Setume has never refuted these allegations when they were leveled against BTO in several kgotla meetings.
That BTO was aware of KDT stance against Butler is further validated by Mokaila’s statement during a meeting between him and KDT where he admitted that he was “aware that you (KDT) did not want to do business with Greg (Butler).”
The other bone of contention has been the merits under which SLS was awarded the tender by BTO when “SLS had bid at a price much lower than the reserve price” according to a press release by the dissolved board. Further the press release “questioned why this company [SLS] was not disqualified” and “why a re-tender was not called since the tender duration had been altered.”
Meanwhile, BTO maintains that only SLS “proposal passed the technical proposal stage and proceeded to the next stage of the financial proposal evaluation” and that “after evaluating the SLS proposal, the evaluation team recommended that SLS be awarded the tender.” BTO says the basic requirements stipulated in the tender were: sub-lease fee at P2, 500, 000.00 (minimum asking price payable to KDT) while land rental was at P1, 000,000.00 (payable to BTB/TLB).
SLS’ original financial proposal, which Botswana Guardian has in its possession, shows a sub-lease fee of P850, 000 and land rental at P150, 000. According to former board member who represented KDT at the tender opening at BTO’s headquarters in Gaborone, Isaac Duma “we were warned against revealing SLS’ financials and sworn to secrecy by BTO. The community was made to believe that Butler met the reserve price but the figures were never revealed.”
Also, the invitation to tender (a copy of which Botswana Guardian has) clearly states, “the joint venture arrangement to be entered into will be for a period of eight continuous years (2010-2017).” According to another former board member Fleshice Phalalo, what transpired is that “BTO met Butler in secrecy, and agreed that he adjust his financial proposal to meet our minimum reserve price of P2.5 million. We were later informed by BTO that Butler had said for him to meet our reserve price he be given an extra seven years and extra beds.” To add insult to injury, BTO allowed SLS to pay their sub-lease fee at a flat rate for the first four years.
The bad blood between KDT and SLS can be traced to their previous JVP in the same concession area NG 18. As BTO has pointed out, KDT had a lease “with Tawana Land Board for 15 years commencing 12 March 2003 expiring 13 March 2018” in NG 18 and “sublet the area to SLS on a five year renewal sub-lease.” However, contrary to BTO’s statement Botswana Guardian, which is in possession of the said Memorandum of Agreement (MoA), can confirm that the said agreement was not a “renewal sub-lease.” Further following SLS’s five-year agreement ending in 2009, Botswana Guardian has it on good authority that Mokaila directed KDT to extend SLS’s agreement for another year.
This was in spite of the fact that KDT had exercised its right to end their JVP with SLS in accordance with their Management Plan and the MoA. Chiefly among KDT’s reasons was that SLS “operated a photographic camp through” OWS when the latter was not part of the JVP. The said camp is a Wilderness Tented Camp. KDT viewed this as a clear breach of contract as the involvement of a 3rd party was clearly forbidden in the MoA. KDT looked to Tawana Land Board (TLB), a signatory to the agreement with enforceable powers to terminate the contract. TLB did not move a muscle. According to KDT, OWS Managing Director Grant Woodrow told them that their arrangement with SLS at the said camp is that of “a management and marketing contract.” Woodrow could not explain how they then came to operate and run the camp. KDT was further worried about “mistreatment of employees” by Greg Butler and his failure to fulfill his set objectives outlined in SLS’ Technical Proposal. Butler’s overtures to have his agreement
renewed were unsuccessful as the community rejected him three times during separate kgotla meetings. KDT decided to invite interested companies to tender for the remaining nine years of their lease. This is when the Minister of Environment Wildlife and Tourism Kitso Mokaila came “to stamp his authority.” Mokaila flew into Khwai by helicopter and in “15 minutes gave us an ultimatum to either extend Greg Butler’s contract by a year or he (Mokaila) was going to withhold the community’s hunting quota for the year.” This took place in January 2009. As their source of income was largely dependent on hunting, the community relented.
Mokaila has numerously said the one-year extension was made necessary by the fact that the following year NG 18 would exclusively become a non-consumptive tourism area. The dissolved board however says this had no bearing on the extension required by Mokaila as the land was not changing use but only barring hunting activities.
On 9 April 2009, the one-year extension was contractually entered into, (Botswana Guardian is in possession of the said agreement).
There was however a clever inclusion in this agreement, something called “right of first refusal.” What this means is that SLS had the upper hand as it could match any new bidder when their agreement with KDT came to an end. This would enable SLS to continue doing business with KDT despite the rocky relationship. According to the dissolved board Mokaila was behind this clever addition. “It has been clear from the beginning that all the government agencies that are tasked with working in conjunction with us, have long switched sides to negotiate on behalf of the business people. There must be a conflict of interest as it seems that someone highly placed has a vested interest in our JVP,” said Phalalo.
Meanwhile, the dissolved board has, in their press release, charged that they were disposed of “for asking some thorny questions in regards to the said tender” and that “it is clear that we posed a threat to Ms. Malala’s [District Commissioner] interests and or those of someone above her.” They further invited Survival International to intensify their campaign to protect “the rights of Basarwa living under constant intimidation and abuse by government officials in the Okavango Delta.” “We have learnt a bitter lesson that the rights of a few young Basarwa are nothing compared to the interests of someone well placed in government like the DC or a big company like Okavango Wilderness Safaris (OWSWS) and SLS.”