22 Feb 2017

Kgosi Kehitlhile Kgwakgwe of Digawana has voiced concern over paying pensioners in kgotla as it is not a secure method  as there are no armed officers.

Addressing pensioners at a meeting that sought remedial measures with regard to Sandulela Telecom Botswana’s inefficiencies on Wednesday at Digawana, Kgosi Kgwakgwe said such an environment attracts thieves and exposes elders to unscrupulous people.

Kgosi Kgwakgwe said Sandulela has never made any consultations about paying pensioners in kgotla.

It was evident that elders disapprove Sandulela raising concerns of staying too long in the queue waiting for payments without the knowledge that Sandulela is coming or not as their cellphones are always off-air.

VDC chairperson Mr Thomas Lekganye said Sandulela has made empty promises to them. “We were supposed to have received our money this Friday but we have not received anything even to date,” Mr Lekganye said.

Mr Lekganye said elders went to the kgotla at 7am during pay day and waited for good but Sandulela failed to neither pay them nor give them an explanation why they were unsuccessful in making the payments.

He said he suspects that Sandulela does not have enough money to pay pensioners and vulnerable groups.

Another pensioner Mr Gaolebale Dikhula said Sandulela should have been given to villages without post offices because they have been working well with BotswanaPost.
Sandulela director Philemon Zambo argued that people should not make accusations based on assumptions.

However, on the issue of late payments he said they cannot be blamed adding that they have hired a security company to collect the money from the bank to pensioners.

Mr Zambo explained that they do not physically possess the money at any point. He went on to clarify that the security company they have hired went late to the bank on Friday to collect the money so they were unable to make the payments on time, adding the situation was beyond his control.

“We are a private company so we cannot make any agreements with the police. All we can do is to hire security guards. Security guards are not allowed to carry fire arms, thus there is not much we can do to safeguard the money,” Mr Zambo said.

The acting director at the department of social protection Ms Papadi Nguvauva said Sandulela was awarded the tender accordingly as it beat its competitors and showed a lot of capability.

“We could not give them all the districts at a go so we only gave them Southern District and Lobatse, the company is still in its piloting stage,” Ms Nguvauva said.

She promised residents that she will report the matter to the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Slumber Tsogane to rescue the situation.BOPA