Minister of Water and Human Settlements Onneetse Ramogapi is reportedly facing mounting pressure from President Duma Gideon Boko to deliver on the Bonno Housing Project or face removal from cabinet.
Reports reaching the Sunday Standard indicate that the President is especially furious because he had praised the project during its launch last year, hailing the Bonno Target 3,000 Kgale Housing Project as the first step towards a national goal of delivering 100,000 homes.
Behind the ostentatious fanfare, however, murmurs of discontent have amplified. Emerging reports suggest that Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC) executives were bullied into signing a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the developer, Ongos Valley, just days before the official launch.
The MoA was reportedly signed without issuing an Expression of Interest (EOI) or giving other prospective bidders a chance. Furthermore, the project was launched without housing plans, enforceable contracts, or a completed due diligence report. Law firm Minchin and Kelly, alongside transactional advisors Grant Thornton, would later warn BHC to reconsider its contract with Ongos Valley. They highlighted the Namibian developer’s failure to disclose critical documentation during the due diligence process, which hampered confirmation of its financial soundness, technical operational capacity, and ethical standing.
To many, the writing was on the wall. In December 2025, barely six months after the launch, the much-touted partnership between BHC and Ongos Valley collapsed.
‘It was very unfortunate that the project was launched, but we had to terminate the contract as negotiations with the partner did not go well,’ then-acting CEO Pascaline Sefawe said at the time.
Internally, BHC employees breathed a collective sigh of relief. But the President was left embarrassed. In cabinet, Ramogapi began feeling the heat as Boko and fellow ministers grew increasingly impatient.
THE PURGE
Ramogapi has never minced his words: anyone standing in the way of the Kgale project would be removed. The threat of summary dismissal was real and repeatedly pronounced.
The casualties of the project began mounting rapidly. Permanent Secretary Bonolo Khumotaka was redeployed in July 2025, while Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nkaelang Matenge was shown the door in October. Ramogapi wielded his axe again in February 2026, as acting Deputy CEO Steven Ofetotse and Property Development Manager Urban Ferguson were summarily dismissed for allegedly sabotaging the Kgale development.
The board ran helter-skelter trying to fill the resulting human capital gaps, leading to further internal chaos. A newly recruited female engineer had several run-ins with the board after employees raised complaints of harassment and bullying against her.
In another bizarre twist, the Director of Property Development-who reported for duty in February- abruptly resigned in April, before later attempting to rescind his decision. By that time, his resignation had been accepted and a replacement appointed. The situation escalated when the minister reportedly instructed the acting CEO to reinstate the former director. According to insiders, Ramogapi’s instructions could not be obeyed as terminating the replacement employee’s contract without lawful cause would expose BHC to immense financial liabilities. This set the stage for a direct, high stakes showdown between the board and Ramogapi.
THE BOARD DISSOLUTION
Tensions arose after the female engineer was instructed to ‘show cause’ why disciplinary action could not be taken against her for appointing two contractors to develop bulk services at Kgale without following due process.
The dispute highlighted a major shift from the project’s initial financial structure, in which the identified developers would recoup their investments through both bulk services and housing developments. Under the new arrangement, the contractors appointed by the female engineer were tasked exclusively with developing essential utilities infrastructure, including water supply, wastewater management, and stormwater drainage. BHC would be liable to pay a substantial upfront deposit, followed by monthly installments of up to P8 million over a 24-month period. Insiders revealed that total expenditures for development of bulk services at Kgale would ultimately exceed P200 million.
The board reportedly refused to validate the appointments; demanding clarity on whether management had fully assessed cash flow projections to ascertain BHC’s repayment capacity; collateral arrangements as well as sensitivity and stress-testing scenarios. While the board insisted this was necessary due diligence to prevent another disaster, Ramogapi viewed it as deliberate sabotage and unnecessary delay.
The tension reached boiling point during a heated meeting on June 1. Ramogapi reportedly dressed down the BHC board, accusing them of failing to deliver on the corporation’s mandate. Three days later, on June 4, Ramogapi officially dissolved the board in accordance with Section 6(3) of the BHC Act. The minister has since assured stakeholders that the process of constituting a new board is already underway.