Air Botswana’s financial troubles extend beyond grounded aircraft and cancelled flights. The state-owned airline is now years behind in publishing audited financial statements, raising fresh questions about transparency at a company that has spent hundreds of millions of pula on fleet renewal while continuing to post operating losses.
Last week Parliament learnt that the state-owned airline’s latest audited accounts are still for the 2021/22 financial year. The disclosure came in response to a parliamentary question from Serowe South MP Leepetswe Lesedi, exposing a growing accountability gap at a time when the national carrier is grappling with operational and financial challenges.
According to the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, the audit backlog arose after Air Botswana switched external auditors from Ernst and Young to KPMG. The ministry said the transition and the time required for new auditors to complete their inaugural engagement delayed publication of the accounts.
While the 2022/23 financial statements have been completed and are awaiting board approval, the 2023/24 audit is still in progress, leaving Parliament, taxpayers and potential investors without independently verified financial information covering recent years.
The delayed audits coincide with one of the airline’s biggest capital investment programmes. Over the past five years, Air Botswana has spent P355.5 million acquiring new aircraft and related fleet costs, including two Embraer ERJ145s and one Embraer E175, as part of a strategy to improve operational reliability and modernise its fleet.
However, government acknowledged that the investment has yet to deliver the expected financial returns. The airline continues to record operating losses, with the minister attributing the poor performance to aircraft groundings, maintenance delays, global supply chain disruptions, rising operating costs and the aviation sector’s slow post-pandemic recovery.