Debt forces Lake Ngami Trust to sell assets

  • Debt accumulated in just 2 months is  P200 000
  • Trust operations severely aff ected dry fish import ban

SESUPO RANTSIMAKO

FRANCISTOWN: The Lake Ngami Trust is selling its assets to avert legal action from its creditors. The trust is on a freefall ever since the Ministry of Tourism imposed a ban of dry fish importation in April.
Trust Manager Galefele Maokeng told The Botswana Gazette that they have accumulated P200 000 worth of debts and can no longer sustain themselves.  “Since the ban the trust is in financial crises and has been failing to pay the service providers hence the decision to sell its assets,” he said.
Maokeng said they resolved at a board meeting two weeks ago to among other things terminate the contract with the waste management service providers and reduce the number of fishing camps to three, as well as selling assets which include vehicles. “The trust solely depended on monthly subscriptions of fishermen to run its operations which include among others provision of portable toilets, waste management and paying of the employed staff. All these resolutions were made in order to downsize operations, ultimately reducing debts. Hopefully we will manage to settle this debt after selling these assets,” he said.