- Has their parliamentary benefits garnished
- TK confirms
LETLHOGILE MPUANG
The Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) has instructed Parliament and the Accountant General to withhold Duma Boko, Tshekedi Khama and Guma Moyo’s parliamentary benefits for tax violations.
All three are high profile personages and controversial political figures. Boko is the president of the Umbrella for Democratic Change, Moyo is a former MP who has purportedly fled to South Africa from persecution in Botswana, while TK is Tshekedi, former president Ian Khama’s younger brother who recently defected from the ruling party to newfangled Botswana Patriotic Front because someone had insulted his father, the late Seretse Khama.
Information gathered from parliament insiders by this publication suggests that BURS was granted court orders to garnish the trio’s benefits after they contravened a number of tax regulations, among them compliance.
While Boko and Moyo were unreachable via phone at the time of going to press, Botswana Patriotic Front’s (BPF) parliamentary candidate for Serowe West, Tshekedi, confirmed his issues with the taxman yesterday.
He revealed that he had over the years had an arrangement with BURS to deduct all its dues from his parliamentary benefits before reaching his accounts. However, he continued, this year there was a delay on his part, resulting in the taxman withholding his benefits a little longer. “The matter has been dealt with and my benefits have been cleared,” said Tshekedi.
Contacted, BURS spokesperson Mable Bolele said she had to engage the relevant officers.
In March Boko’s Range Rover was auctioned by BURS after the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) failed to settle his tax bill. At the time, sources of The Botswana Gazette confirmed that the bank had been slapped with Boko’s garnishing order on his salary. The order originates from BURS and the same is referenced to have been issued against the Leader of Opposition’s employer.
The taxman has also been hot on the heels of Moyo for a similar offence. In March this year, the BURS reportedly garnished Moyo’s bank accounts. All banks where the former MP for Francistown East held accounts were instructed to freeze them while his wages were garnished.
Moyo is currently in South Africa where he lives in purported exile after dramatically claiming that DISS had his name on a bullet.