‘Nomadic’ Israel transferred

GCC internal audit wanted him suspended Israel transferred four times under 10 years

Gaborone City Council (GCC) Town Clerk, Lebuile Israel has been transferred from the city to serve as Council Secretary at the North East District Council headquartered in Masunga.

While sources allege that Israel was pushed out following allegations of gross negligence, corruption and fraudulent acts at the city council, he and his employer maintain it is just a normal transfer process.

According to a source, despite leading multi projects to develop Gaborone currently, Israel could not be allowed to see the end of projects such as Botswana’s first traffic command and control centre and many others which started under his watch. This is said to be because authorities would want to be able to conduct investigations into the allegations against him.

Mmegi reported in October last year that Israel and other officers find themselves on the wrong end of an internal audit report on procurement and alleged use of SkyJacks that costs the city council over P2 million.

The GCC audit report deemed confidential and seen by Mmegi has exposed a case of unprocedural procurement of SkyJacks and fictitious payment of hire of same by the council, which was allegedly sanctioned by the office of the Town Clerk.

The GCC’s internal audit committee has called for Israel’s suspension and further reported the matter to the DCEC for investigation.

The case in question relates to the alleged P885,075 tender for the supply of three mounted boom lift SkyJacks by the council back in 2019, which was awarded to a certain company (names withheld).

It is said the procured items were delivered in 2020 without rear lamps, a standard component of the SkyJacks, which rendered them not roadworthy. However, instead of communicating the problem with the supplying company, officials at the council failed to act on the matter and later on decided to seek variation to instal new rear lamps, which variation was rejected by the office of the Town Clerk.

But in turn, the same office allegedly authorised the hire and rental of the same equipment from a local hardware company to the tune of P2,414,927.20.

The audit further revealed that from that P2,414,927.20, there was allegedly a fictitious P1,195,094.60 paid as a result of double charging the SkyJack services provided in various dates for the period between November 27, 2020 and October 1, 2021.

The audit report also blames the office of the Town Clerk for allegedly authorising the continued hire or rental services of the SkyJacks from a local hardware company despite the exhaustion of the Hire and Transport Vote, which had been exhausted to a negative balance of P2,194,965.

“For the office of the Town Clerk to have allegedly authorised the payment of the very same items that it was aware that were delivered incomplete by rejecting the variation a day before, the audit found no reason why the office couldn’t have recalled the variation at the time it requested investigation because by authorising the last stage of payment, the office somehow accepted that the SkyJacks are now a burden,” reads the audit report in part.

The audit report stated that the office of the Town Clerk is now reportedly implicated in the process because instead of also rejecting the payment like it did with irregular variation, it went ahead and authorised the payment. It found out that the variation could have downsized to cover the rear lamps instead of renting other SkyJacks.

The internal audit report states that these decisions have worsened the financial predicaments and burden to service delivery the council finds itself in than mitigate them.

It alleged that the office of the Clerk has failed in its capacity with responsibility to exercise supervision over other departments under its authority and entrusted with the expenditure of local authority money allocated to those departments.

Contacted for comment, Israel said he was being transferred just like any civil servant. “I can confirm that I am indeed leaving GCC on transfer. It is just a normal transfer process and I will not be the only one being transferred. I leave the place with my head up as I know I gave it my all and we have since achieved a lot under my leadership,” he said, referring Mmegi to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development for further enquiry.

Meanwhile, Public Relations Officer at the Ministry, Masego Ramakgathi said: “It is true there shall be movements affecting some Council Secretaries as it is a norm. Therefore, an official announcement will be made at the appropriate time.”

Israel, who has headed at least three Councils, joined GCC in 2018 after he had spent two years as Council Secretary at South East District Council. Before then, he had headed the Francistown City Council (FCC) as Town Clerk. He had left Gaborone as a Deputy Town Clerk to assume the top post in Francistown.

According to media reports, just before he departed from Francistown in 2015, employees at FCC had accused Israel of maladministration, corruption and unfair dismissals. The council employees engaged the Botswana Land Boards, Local Authorities and Health Workers Union (BLLAHWU) to represent them as they were reamused portedly not by dismissal of some of their colleagues by Israel.