FRANCISTOWN: The government’s relationship with companies that unfairly provide it with goods and services at exorbitant and uncompetitive prices will soon come to end should they continue to deliberately over price themselves, the Minister of Transport and Communications Nonofo Molefhi has cautioned.
He said while the government is eager to work with most companies for the services and goods they provide, they have now taken advantage by deliberately over pricing, adding that the government will start to monitor this practice and the culprits will be blacklisted. “We will continue to monitor this behavior and ultimately we will have no choice but procure directly from the manufactures because the prices are not suitable at all,” the Minister revealed over the weekend when officially opening Zambezi Motors workshop in Francistown.
Molefhi slammed some companies citing that they only open branches for tender participation and then shut down immediately after being awarded lucrative contracts. “Most of the companies that supply government with motor spares have done this before thus leaving the Central Transport Organization (CTO) with the responsibility of taking over work that was hived off to the private sector,” highlighted the Minister when appealing to Zambezi Motors to demonstrate commitment to the government that quality service will be their trade mark.
Molefhi commended Zambezi Motors for opening a dealership and repairs workshop in the North saying that it is a strategic location that will not only serve a range of government clients but could also offer extended services beyond the border. “As we the government procure and deploy, we take into consideration the location as well as areas of operation,” he said.