- My issue has been resolved – Kaone Moremong
- Some suppliers still not paid
GOSEGO MOTSUMI
After they launched the #PayMissBotswanaSuppliers online advocating for the Ministry of Youth to pay them, service providers say their payment is currently being processed and are expecting it after a 14-day waiting period.
Speaking to Time Out one of the fashion designers who was engaged for the pageant’s wardrobe, Kaone Moremong said her payment issues were resolved along with that of other service providers who commented on terms of anonymity.
It is believed that the payment was immediately processed after the Minister Thapelo Olopeng intervened and resolved that those who had letters from the ministry authorizing them to do work for Miss Botswana Pageant be paid. “How those transactions were authorised from the ministry will be dealt with internally. Those who dealt directly with BCW and are still owed should resolve their issues with BCW. When I resume duty, we are going to meet with (Botswana Council of Women) BCW to decide the future of our relationship,” he posted.
During the Miss Botswana pageant 2017 which was held on September 28th, Botho Chalebgwa of Botocy and Kaone Moremong were engaged to do the entire Miss Botswana wardrobe. They designed 12 evening gowns, 12 swimwear pieces, 24 casual dresses making it a total of 48 dresses in 7 days at an agreed cost, effectively delivering as promised. In Moremong’s statements she said it was agreed that the ministry would pay as they did not want to deal with BCW. “After the event, BCW engaged us to produce a wardrobe for the queen and we did and we got paid accordingly…In December we were literally living at MYSC demanding payment with other suppliers,” she stated.
Over 15 youth-owned businesses were engaged for the beauty pageant and more than P2 million was supposedly disbursed for their services. Contacted for more clarification, a source who was a service provider revealed that “indeed about P2 million was paid to BCW and about 80% of the funds were paid to the stage service providers which is why maybe some of us are still not paid. I mean how do you pay one person and leave out the rest,” pointed out the source.
Minister Olopeng however seems unpleased with the fact that service providers used social media to voice their concerns saying, “These issues include continuous education to our youth on how they should differentiate between business and social matters. They should refrain from discussing their businesses queries on social media. Social media should be used for advertising.” In their defense, Moremong posted that they (along with Botho Chalebgwa) understood the repercussions of using social media but they had exhausted all angles of trying to be paid what is owed to them.