19 Feb 2015

Sankoyo Tshwaragano Management Trust chairman, Mr Haku Galesenngwe is hopeful that the trust will soon be operational after being assured that their lease will be issued before end of February this year.

In an interview, Mr Galesenngwe said the Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, Mr Tshekedi Khama has assured them that their leases for NG 33 and 34 concessions would be ready before end of this month.

He explained that the delay was caused by the transfer of lease issuance from Tawana Land Board to department of Lands under ministry of Lands and Housing.

He complained that the delay has negatively affected the running of the trust, noting that it is almost a year now.

He noted that they applied for a three year extension after their lease expired in 2013, adding that they followed the all the right procedures with the assistance from Botswana Tourism Organization (BTO)

.Mr Galesenngwe revealed that they have long secured a joint venture partners and tendered for high value tourism zones, saying they were that they would be given a waiver because they had completed all the necessary work.

“We were hopeful that by 2014 business would be back to normal but our hands are held up because we were told that the department of Lands is still developing a land bank,” he added.

He explained that the trust was forced to retrench 34 employees at because they were unable to meet their monthly salaries. 

He said they had also failed to pay their rental office in Maun for some months and is afraid that they might be kicked out any time.

Further, he stated that they had sent three employees for further training and experienced difficulties in paying their fees and they ended up paying for themselves.

The trust is said to be experiencing challenges of generating income since the relocation from consumptive tourism to non-consumptive tourism. 

Since then, the trust has been failing to generate revenue to meet its plans.Mr Galesenngwe believed that non-consumptive tourism is good because it would give the trust an opportunity to employ more people and wished their lease could be issued.

He said the trust is abreast because of a good working relationship with Wilderness Safaris which assist them with some funds to pay salaries for the skeleton staff at Kaziikini Camp Site which is the only project running. ENDS