I will continue tendering for gov’t projects – PSP’s husband
‘I have been tendering before my wife became PSP’ ‘Nothing wrong with PSP benefitting from husband’s tenders’
Rocked by reports that he is using his wife’s influence to get a lucrative tender for the construction of 28 police stations across Botswana, Joseph Peloetletse, the husband of Permanent Secretary to the President (PSP), Emma Peloetletse, says he is going to continue tendering for government projects despite corruption allegations.
Joseph, who is a shareholder in Legacy Pursuit Proprietary Limited through his company Joe’s Electrical, has been the subject of a controversial tender, which has seen a whistleblower writing a complaint letter to President Mokgweetsi Masisi about the matter. At two months old, Legacy Pursuit was one of the nine companies approved through selective tendering for the construction of 28 police stations across the country for the Botswana Police Service (BPS).
The whistleblower wants Masisi to initiate an independent and comprehensive investigation into the procurement decisions related to the construction of 28 police stations. The crux of the complaint is that Legacy Pursuit was incorporated just two months prior to the tender’s approval and, therefore lacks a substantial track record for a project of that scale. The whistleblower also wrote that the restrictive selection of companies like Legacy Pursuit raises serious questions about the fairness and legality of procurement decisions.
In response to the allegations labelled against him, his wife and Legacy Pursuit, Joseph told the media this week that his wife is the PSP but he started his company in 1989 when his wife was still a junior officer. He said he is not going to stop tendering for government jobs despite the allegations brought forward by the whistleblower against him.
Joseph claimed that he does not discuss government tenders with the PSP and that his wife does not know much about gov- ernment tenders for various ministries. “I read the Government Gazette mostly because that’s where the tenders are. My wife mostly knows about tenders in her ministry but I have always been informed that is a no-go area,” he said.
He said besides tenders from the Office of the President (OP), he is free to tender anywhere her wife is not conflicted. “My wife is not involved in any adjudication of tender awarding, ke motho hela wa modimo,” he emphasised claiming his innocence.
In addition, Joseph said the fact that his wife is the PSP is just a development because he comes from far in the tendering field.
“I have been tendering for many years. I have been developing what I have. These reports are ruining us in the financial sector. Potential financiers don’t want to touch us because of negative reports about us,” he disclosed. Joseph said these allegations blast their adjudication in other projects besides the police stations one, a tender he says they have not yet won.
Joseph also said he has realised that the matter is about to take a rough route and therefore he is not afraid of taking one. He said they will continue taking risks.
For his part, one of the shareholders at Legacy Pursuit, Lekwalo Mosienyane, said they are perplexed that every time Legacy Pursuit is mentioned, the PSP’s name comes up. “Peloetletse has been Joseph’s wife in the year 2000 long before she became the PSP. Joe’s Electrical has been here since 1989 which is 11 years before they got married,” he revealed. He said it is very clear that Joseph cannot tender for the OP projects. Mosienyane also said Joseph cannot be hindered from tendering for government projects just because he is married to the PSP.
“This is a man who has been tendering for 31 years since he started this practice,” he said.
“The PSP will benefit from her husband’s tenders but so what; there is nothing wrong with that. What could be wrong was if the PSP was the shareholder at Joe’s Electrical but she is not,” he further pointed out.