03 Apr 2016

Chobe District  councillors have rejected a report on the Kazungula Bridge arguing that the report does not reflect what is happening on the ground. 

The project is 212 days behind schedule, according to the latest District Development Committee report. 

Presenting an update to a full council session on behalf of the Kazungula bridge project team on Friday, district  performance coordinator, Ms Seele Chabata said 133 Batswana were employed under the project. 

“From this number, 91 of them fall in the category of skilled and semi-skilled, while 44 are unskilled as of February 2016,” she said. 

At the peak of the project, she said, 250 Batswana were employed.  She said additional labour would be needed as the project entered into the second phase that involved construction of the border facilities and approach roads. 

“Labour relations matters on the Botswana side have a major challenge for the project which has seen a decline in recruitment of Batswana,” she noted. 

She added that finding necessary permits for burrow pits in Botswana was proving difficult as one out of the five had received full approval, a situation that had potential to frustrate the project. 

Councillor for Kazungula/ Lesoma, Mr Patrick Majola, disagreed with the update arguing that he made frequent visits to the project site and knew that few Batswana were employed there. 

“I disagree with those figures, and I believe that the project employs just 10 per cent of Batswana from my observations,” he said.  He urged the labour office to pay frequent visits to the site since he alleged that all was not well.

Plateau ward councillor, Boitumelo Kanyetu also disagreed with the figures and demanded that the project team come forth to give them a proper report with accurate figures. 

Kasane Central councillor, Sharps Munihango requested statistics depicting the ratio of Batswana to Zambians as the numbers presented would make better sense when compared to Zambians’. 

According to the project update brief, 17 Batswana owned companies had been sub-contracted for various services. 

However the contract with Lead Masters Holdings, which had been subcontracted for civil construction had been terminated due to poor performance. 

The report noted that companies such as Shell Kasane had an on-going contract with Kazungula Bridge worth over P14 million for provision of fuel and engine oils while Orange Botswana had an on-going contract for provision of cell phones and services. 

Councillors had requested statistics on how many Batswana were employed by the project. 

The construction of Kazungula Bridge is a joint initiative between the governments of Botswana and Zambia. Launched in September 2014, the project was earmarked for completion in 2018. Ends