21 Jul 2020

Prosecution witness, Mr Mboki Chilisa says he is not in a position to confirm as to whether there was another court order that superseded the one issued by Judge Tshepo Motswagole on October 7, 2014.

He said this on July 17  before Justice Christopher Gabanagae of Gaborone High Court, during cross examination by lead defence attorney, Mr Busang Manewe that, “I am not aware of another order barring or tempering the one issued by Judge Motswagole on October 7, 2014. The clarity can only be made by looking at court records,” he said.

He told the High Court that through his law firm, Collins Chilisa Consultants, he was engaged by National Amalgamated Central, Local and Parastatal Manual Workers Union in 2013 in an issue relating to their representation in Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF) board.

“Their concern was that the union does not have representation in the board nor participate in nomination of employee trustees. The union was also of the view that the pension fund board must be chaired by an employee trustee, not an employer trustee,” he added.

He said he was instructed by the union, through Mr Johnson Motshwarakgole, who was by then the national organising secretary and his deputy, Mr Samuel Molaodi. “My duty was to investigate their concern to establish cause of action and assist accordingly. I then established that there was a requirement to elect employee trustees to join the BPOPF board after every five years and that the procedure was not followed,” he said.

Mr Chilisa said his discovery of the discrepancy was followed by a letter addressed to the BPOPF board chairperson, Carter Morupisi entailing non-representation of the manual workers union in the board, adding that the current employee trustees were not properly elected.

Responding to the manual workers concern, he said the acting CEO of the fund, Ms Lesedi Moakofhi indicated that workers unions were at liberty to come together and engage in a process of choosing their preferred candidature to join the BPOPF board and that they were properly represented.

Subsequent to Ms Moakofhi’s answer, which was deemed not satisfactory, Mr Chilisa said the workers union approached the High Court for recourse. He said the manual workers union had sort for termination of the chairperso (Morupisi) representation and that of the nine employee trustees, who were by then in the BPOPF board of trustees. He said the application was opposed by the BPOPF and the employer trustees.

Eventually, Mr Chilisa said the two parties reached for a settlement and agreed that such be made an order of the court before Judge Tshepo Motswagole on October 7, 2014.  “The order was that employee associates must engage one another and select members eligible for election into the BPOPF board as employee trustees.  

The order also instructed those who were in the BPOPF board to vacate their seats forthwith and that BPOPF board must not engage in any business transaction, as it remained suspended pending enforcement of the order. The order dated October 7, 2014 was to effect immediately,” said Mr Chilisa.

Mr Chilisa said an election of employee trustees was carried out as directed by the court order, but  was not accepted by the Botswana Sector of Educators Union, who filed a letter of opposition to BPOPF through their secretary general, Mr Tobokani Rari.  As such, Mr Chilisa said the names forwarded to BPOPF as eligible employee trustees were turned down by BPOPF.

He said the BPOPF instituted urgent court proceedings, the essence of which was to nullify what had taken place. Mr Chilisa said a compromise agreement was reached that a fresh election be conducted in relation to employee trustees.

Pending enforcement of the court order, Mr Chilisa said on November 21, 2014, his office wrote a letter to Morupisi - chairperson of the BPOPF board and the BPOPF attorneys cautioning them against transacting any business that required the board’s approval such as awarding tenders of high value and engaging in litigation that had not been authorised since the board was on suspension.

As a matter of law, the board was not to sit until the court order was fully executed, but contrary to that, I believe some activities were done in violation of the order and therefore prompted cautionary action,” said Mr Chilisa.

Carter and Pinny Morupisi as well as R7 Group are facing three counts of corruption and money laundering. The first accused person, Carter, is facing two counts of corruption and another count jointly charged with R7 Group and Pinny on the count of money laundering. ENDS