07 Aug 2022

Four contractors were delisted and six suspended for contravening the repealed Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Board (PPADB) Act between 2017 and 2021, Minister of Finance, Ms Peggy Serame told Parliament Thursday.

She said the contractors were delisted for various reasons including submitting fabricated documents during registration with PPADB, changing directors and shareholders to benefit from procurement schemes, failure to declare interest as well as acquiring codes, sub-codes and grades fraudulently.

The minister added that the contractors were suspended for varying periods of time for failure to perform contract obligations and submitting fraudulent documents to PPADB.

Ms Serame further said one contractor was issued with a written warning for unethical behaviour which entailed participating in a Grade D tender while holding Grade E.

She said the delisted companies had seven Batswana directors/shareholders, one Zimbabwean director/shareholder and one Motswana director collectively, while the suspended contractors had nine Batswana directors/shareholders, four Zimbabwean directors/shareholders, two Indian directors/shareholders and one South African director/shareholder.

Notwithstanding, the minister noted that there had since been changes in some directorship and shareholding of the affected contractors.

 “For some of the contractors, there has since been changes in the directorship and shareholding of the companies subsequent to conclusion of the matters before the then PPADB,” she said.

Maun West MP, Mr Dumelang Saleshando had wanted to know the number of companies blacklisted by the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Board (PPADB) in the past 10 years, the nationalities of the directors of all the blacklisted companies and reasons for the blacklisting. ENDS