The hearings of the Public Accounts Committee became a scene of adroit tapdancing around questions over the purchase and purpose of Tautona Lodge when the head of DISS, Brigadier Peter Fana Magosi(rtd), contradicted answers given to Parliament by ministers under different governments before that were themselves incompatible
CALISTUS BOSALETSWE
The controversial procurement of Tautona Lodge came under scrutiny at ongoing hearings of the Public Accounts Committee yet again where the Directorate of Intelligence and Security Service (DISS) has been skirting around questions around the purchase of the facility that the secret service operates and generates revenue but does not remit any money accrued to the government.
Almost three years after DISS purchased the lodge, it is yet unclear to the Accountant General (AG) and the Auditors General (AG) why the asset bought at a whooping P58 million does not appear as part of the assets that the government owns, according to the Accountant General, Grace Sekwababe.
The AG indicated that due to the absence of the lodge in government books, there was no how DISS could remit money accrued from the enterprise to the government. She said there was no how facilities owned by the government can remit funds when they are not part of a property that is owned by government.
Contradictory
Sekwababe noted that since the purchase of the lodge, they have not been able to audit the operations of the facility and the revenue raised through accommodation offered to guests at Tautona Lodge.
The Director General of DISS, Brigadier Peter Fana Magosi(rtd) made statements contradictory to previous answers given by ministers to Parliament when the PAC turned the screws harder on him over the purchase of the lodge this week.
Magosi, who vowed to set the record straight, deviated from earlier answers that were given to Parliament when he indicated that the purchase was for use for DISS operations and addressing shortage of land in the area.
He said although the purchase was for DISS operations, the land would at some stage be handed to the government to address shortage of land in the area. This is because the shortage of land had the potential to cause a security threat in the future since the area was surrounded by farms. “Land in other countries has caused wars,” said Magosi.
Sandveldt environment
He seemed to be angling to use his appearance before the PAC to whip up hysteria about shortage of land and sidestepped questions about why his statements differed from earlier versions shared by former minister of state under then President Mokgweetsi Masisi, Kabo Morwaeng, and the incumbent Minister of State under President Duma Boko, Moeti Mohwasa.
In his parliamentary response to a question, Morwaeng said that the lodge would be used for training by government departments and serve as a centre for hosting research into the sandveldt environment for the benefit of wildlife, cattle rearing and agriculture. However, Mohwasa told Parliament this year that the facility – which has a restaurant and campsites – offers hospitality services, conferencing, game drives, bush walks and sand dances, among other things.
Magosi seemed to squirm a bit when the Chairman of the PAC, Taolo Lucas, asked him whether Tautona Lodge was used for the personal gain of certain people since the Accountant General had pointed out that the money accrued from its services had never reached government coffers.
Covert operation
Lucas pressed on: “Does this mean that you are now pocketing the money since there are no processes in place to remit the money to government coffers?”
In response, Magosi said they were ready to account for the daily operations and revenues accrued from the establishment but admitted that the money has never reached government coffers since DISS started to run the lodge as part of a covert operation. “We have used the money accrued from the lodge to run the daily operations of the business,” he said.
He could not state any figures in terms of profit-and-loss save for saying the occupancy is at similar levels with other establishments in the area. However, Magosi claimed ignorance about cattle and wildlife on the farm at the time when Tautona Lodge was purchased, saying DISS had handed the issue over to the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP), which would be in a better position to state what species were present.
Valuation report
Magosi said that the PAC should note that the wildlife and livestock that were on the farm were given to the government for free. Lucas then advised Sekwababe and the Auditor General to see to it that the lodge is regularised for it to comply with all processes.
When the PAC asked Magosi to submit a valuation report and a lease agreement that he had earlier promised to provide, the Director General of DISS claimed that the then Ministry of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services (MWLA) had conducted a valuation before the facility was purchased.
However, the MP for Molepolole South, Shima Monageng, disagreed with Magosi’s assertion that the ministry had conducted a valuation and compiled a report, stating that such a report can only be done by a member of the Real Estate Institute of Botswana (REIB).