BLLAWU members clash with leadership over alleged illegal sale of plot?

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  • They suspect dirty dealing
  • They claim they were never consulted
  • Accused leadership of going against adopted resolution

SESUPO RANTSIMAKO

FRANCISTOWN: Botswana Landboards Local Authorities and Health Workers Union (BLLAWU) leadership has failed to explain to its general membership the alleged illegal sale of a plot belonging to the union, raising  suspicion that they might be involved in the  sale.

In a heated Annual General Meeting (AGM) this week where the members sought clarity on why the union went against the 2017 AGM resolution and sold the plot, the leadership, according to the members who were in attendance, were allegedly cagey with the details and failed to provide clear answers.

In the 2017 Palapye AGM the BLLAWU Leadership according to the members who talked to this publication reported that the Mogoditshane plot that is part of the union’s investment arm has attracted some interest from an Investor who wants to lease it. According to the members due to the condition the plot was in, both the Investor and BLLAWU leadership made an agreement that the Investor would firstly refurbish the building then lease it for a  six month period without paying rental in order to recover the expenses. Then after six months the Leasee was supposed to pay monthly rent of P250 000.

To BLLAWU’s members’ surprise at their AGM last week in Francistown the Leadership contrary to Palapye resolution reported that the plot has been sold to Kweneng Joint Venture, an Investment arm for Kweneng council at a price of P6 million. According to the AGM attendants what also surprised the members is that the Leadership reported that P4.5million was then used to buy a stake in a soap manufacturing company called ANL Projects PTY LTD.

“Our main contention is that why our leadership did make a u-turn to the resolution we took and sold the plot without consulting us. The AGM is the only platform that can take decisions and reverse them so we as concerned parties wonder how come the new decision was taken without consultation.  Also for starters the secrecy of this AGM was questionable more, and only one media house was invited,” according to a source who was part of the just ended Francistown AGM.

The general membership further questioned the injection of P4.5million in the soap manufacturing company,  their contention being that the union cannot invest in a company that is not operating and are not aware of its business projections. “We do not even know how this soap manufacturing company is going to perform once the operations start. This is an ill-advised investment because somehow our money has gone down the drain,” stated another BLLAWU member.

BLLAWU President Thatayaone Kesebonye could not be drawn into discussing the matter at length when reached by this publication.

“What I can only confirm is that we never adopted any resolution in relation to this plot. The Leadership was only briefing the membership about the progress of different issues of the union, this plot included. So the rest of the information that you want to know is internal and I do not think it is vital to share it as the members are aware of everything happening in the union,” Kesebonye said in an interview.