SONNY SERITE
Head of Internal Audit at Botswana Post Gabriel Ngele has allegedly been suspended after it was discovered he had abused the company credit card facility for personal use.
According to information gathered by this publication, Ngele was found to have misappropriated company funds after it was discovered that he withdrew undisclosed sums of money from Automated Teller Machines (ATM) while on an official trip in South Africa. Botswana Post Chief Executive Officer Cornelius Ramatlhakwane introduced credit cards early this year for his executive management, also known as C-Suite. Ngele is viewed as Ramatlhakwane’s blue-eyed boy within Botswana Post as they have a long established working relationship having worked together at Deloitte & Touche. They would later work together again at Botswana Post when Ngele was headhunted from Botswana Power Corporation.
In an email response to inquiries by The Botswana Gazette, General Manager-Customer Services & Philately Bureau Lebogang Bok who was standing in for General Manager- Marketing and Communications Joyce Ntau confirmed that there is an internal case between Ngele and Botswana Post but stated that the process is still ongoing. Reached for comment, Ngele said the board was better placed to provide answers as the matter is being handled by them.
On allegations that former Security, Risk and Investigations Manager Oratile Ngwako had at some point investigated and established in her findings that funds for Point of Sale machines that are used for selling electricity could not be accounted for, Bok confirmed that there was an internal investigation in the Organization regarding Point of Sale machines in May 2016. ‘‘ In the process , one of the staff members who was to be investigated resigned with immediate effect, while the other implicated employee went through a disciplinary hearing as recommended in the report and was eventually dismissed,’’ Bok stated in her response.