Africa-Press – Botswana. Government has expressed interest to the liquidator to acquire all the housing properties which had not been sold as at September 27.
The Vice President and Leader of the House Mr Slumber Tsogwane told Parliament that the decision was made after the liquidator made offers to former BCL employees to acquire housing properties and the offers were to elapse between August and November 2023.
He said so far the liquidator had received three acceptance letters from former employees of BCL and none of them had provided proof of funding.
“Former BCL employees had already been offered to purchase houses and those who had expressed interest to acquire housing had not yet been able to raise funding, he said in response to a question from Gaborone Central MP Mr Tumisang Mangwegape-Healy regarding government decision to purchase BCL houses.
Mr Mangwegape-Healy had also wanted to know the total number of properties to be acquired, the projected cost, the rationale behind the acquisition and why government was acquiring the houses by buying while it was BCL’s biggest creditor.
The Vice President explained that the timelines for the liquidation process were too tight and may not afford interested former employees sufficient time to raise funds for the acquisition of the housing properties.
Government therefore decided to remove the housing properties from the liquidation process, he said, adding ‘if this is not done, the liquidator could still offer the properties to potential buyers in the open market’.
He explained that government had to cushion former BCL employees from the risk of losing on the opportunity to acquire properties.
Government also has the responsibility to protect its citizens and save Selebi Phikwe from total collapse and ultimate dilapidation in the event the houses are not occupied, he said.
Mr Tsogwane said once government had bought the properties, former BCL employees and other Batswana would be given the opportunity to acquire them.
He said government’s intention was that when the acquisition of the houses got underway, the cost of that would be offset against monies advanced to the liquidator.
He said the properties had been valued at P1 330 380, noting that additionally, as part of the acquisition of the remaining properties, government would be required to reimburse the liquidator the P541 500 cost incurred in conducting the land surveys at.
The Leader of the House also indicated that private entities, government ministries and departments had also expressed interest in acquiring some of the housing properties for the accommodation of public employees.
“So far the liquidator has received 12 acceptances of offers from private, additionally, the liquidator has received an expression of interest from the purchaser of BCL hospital to purchase five housing properties” he said.
He also noted that the liquidator was determined to proceed with effecting the sales in respect of the accepted offers.
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