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afrol.com, 15 March - All four of Botswana Telecommunications Corporation's (BTC) non-Government directors have suddenly resigned, after complaining that they were not consulted about last month's sacking of the Corporation's chief executive, Olebile Gaborone, and the transfer of the chairperson Ms Mapula Modise, out of the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communications. The four resigning are Ms Tekolo Modungwa, an HR training specialist with Debswana, Ms Dora Moremi, a director of Associated Insurance Brokers, Mr Justice Moilwa, the Managing Director of ABB in Botswana, an electrical engineering consulting firm, and Ms Caroline Setshedi Botlhole- Mmopi, the Finance and IT Manager at BP Botswana. In a terse statement issued by the Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communications, Mr Alpheus Matlhaku said that the Minister, Mr David Magang has accepted the resignations. According to Mr Matlhaku's statement, the "reasons cited by the members for their resignation are that there was no consultation prior to the termination of the contract of the former chief executive, Mr O Gaborone, and the transfer of the chairperson of the board Ms M. Modise." However, said the statement, "The Minister is of the view that under the circumstances surrounding this matter, and in view of the powers vested in him by the BTC Act, he acted properly in the best interests of the Corporation. - The deployment of Permanent Secretaries is of course the prerogative of the President of Botswana. One of the board members who has resigned, Mr Justice Moilwa confirmed to The Gazette that the main reason for their resignation was "the lack of consultation between Minister Magang and the Board which he appointed as his representatives at BTC". He said that after they had submitted their letters of resignation, they were called by the Minister and he had "pleaded" with them not to resign. They had agreed to withdraw their resignations on condition that in future the Minister will have the "courtesy" to consult them before taking major decisions "like firing chief executives." They had also asked the Minister to refrain from getting involved in tender issues and let the Corporation's tender board get on with its job. However, Minister Magang declined to give them such an assurance and told them that "he would rather have them go than forfeit his constitutional powers." Mr Moilwa said that the Board had given the Minister its commitment to help to turn the Corporation round and he stressed that they had not been influenced by either the former chief executive or the ex-chairperson to resign. Mr Moilwa told The Gazette that in his view the problems at the Corporation are bigger than the (recently implemented) billing system which is just a symptom. Said Mr Moilwa: "The way in which the Corporation operates is a problem in itself, because it has no technical department. Most of the engineers are only fitters." Moilwa said that although the investigation committee may come out with findings which may reflect negatively on the Board, the real issue is to turn the Corporation around. "As the Board, we acted on information put before us by management. We did not have inside information when we made decisions," he said, referring to the controversial billing system.
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