Monkagedi Gaotlhobogwe
18 August 2008
At least 500 pupils at a private primary school in Tlokweng face a bleak future. Tlokweng Dayspring School (TDS) could be closed down by tomorrow for failure to pay rent.
The Monitor has established that the landlord is threatening to lock-up the premises of the school this week to force the owners of the school to pay more than P2 million in rent arrears. The arrears have been piling for five years.
The threatened closure of the school has forced one of the experts in President Ian Khama's Moral Ethics Committee, Rev Johannes Kgwarapi, to pull out of a nationwide consultative tour by the committee. Kgwarapi is scheduled to address the closure today as chairman of Bible Training Institute, the landlord of Dayspring Primary School. The school is owned by a former American missionary at Bible Training Institute, Dywane Byers. The secretary of the board at Bible Training Institute, Rev John Phillip said they are considering locking the school's gates after their efforts to talk with Byers to pay the arrears failed to bear fruit.
Monitor is informed that the board has scheduled a meeting with Byers today and if there is no agreement, they will lock the gates tomorrow.
Efforts to talk to Byers were unsuccessful on Saturday. He refused to be interviewed at his house located inside the Bible Training Institute. "I do not comment. You can go and talk to John Phillip. I am sorry. No comment," he said as he closed the door to his house.
Monitor is informed that the school has been failing to pay the P45,000 rent per month for more than five years. The amount was agreed upon after a valuation of the premises. However, the school has been paying only P8,000 per month and not the agreed P45,000. This puts the arrears at P2.2 million. Byers first came to Botswana as a missionary, before he decided to run the lucrative business of a private school.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2008 Mmegi/The Reporter. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
I am so disgusted with the way this is potrayed. Where were you lot when the school began in 1992? Now when the school is thriving thats when you wana pull it down and make money out of it. Yes, there may have been delay in payment but how many notice have you given before actually closing the school down? You should think of the students, the staff and the parents before doing such a disgraceful thing... By the way there is always auctioning the school to others instead of shutting it down because of finacial problems
Mr. Byers is my grandfather. He's put his whole life into that school. He's helped so many people. It should be his.