Botswana’s national airline still up for grabs after bidder pulls out

GABORONE – Botswana’s national airliner Air Botswana is still available for privatisation by interested parties after tourism concession company Wilderness Safari announced Friday that they have pulled out of the deal.

It became public news last Thursday that Wilderness Safari has emerged as the preferred bidder for the privatisation of the airliner, which has been struggling for a long time.

Permanent secretary in the ministry of transport and communications Kabelo Ebineng had told the parliamentary accounts committee (PAC), a parliamentary body where accounting for the use of public funds is done, that Wilderness Safari was the preferred bidder after being shortlisted with one other company, ComAir, from the initial 17 companies that showed interest in the airline.

The government put out an expression of interest (EOI) for the airline back in February, opening to proposals on various forms of privatisation of the national airline, including joint ventures, ownership, franchising and concessions.

However, barely a day following the news about Wilderness Safari being the preferred bidder, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)-listed company released a statement that it had withdrawn its expression of interest in the privatisation of Air Botswana. According to the press statement, the safari company confirmed that they had in February 2017 submitted an expression of interest in the privatisation of Air Botswana, but that there had been no further progress in the matter.

“The company has been informed by the ministry of transport and communications that the government of Botswana wishes to enter into discussions with the company regarding this matter. However, after careful deliberation, the company has decided to not pursue the matter any further. Accordingly, the company has withdrawn its expression of interest, and has advised the government of its decision,” reads part of the statement.

It was not clear at the end of business on Friday if ComAir, a South African airline which was revealed as the other shortlisted company, will automatically become the next preferred bidder for the privatisation.

Wilderness Safari is widely acclaimed as Africa’s foremost safari operator. The company operates some of the most sophisticated camps in the magnificent Okavango Delta, one of the Unesco World Heritage Sites. It was widely believed that by going into the privatisation deal, it would boost its business by flying more tourists into the wildlife-rich southern African country of Botswana.

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