FIGHTING CORRUPTION: Gale

Orapa Letlhakane Damtsha Mines re-launched their ethics hotline this week under the theme ‘don’t support it, report it’.

This is a toll free number which is used to report any wrong doing like fraud, theft and corruption.

Speaking at the launch of OLDM, General Manager Dr Adrian Gale said Debswana was committed to the fight against unethical practices at the workplace.

He said this initiative will help them take their commitment to transparency to another level.

“It should be viewed as a corporate governance improvement initiative through which, the company aims to achieve best practice in the realm of corporate governance.

The company can only do something about misconduct if it knows about it. I request all of you to support this initiative in order for it to become a great success” said Gale

Giving an over view of the project, group internal audit manager Tshego Modise said this initiative was launched before five years back.

“Ethics Hotline is a confidential reporting channel that provides, mostly employees an opportunity to report possible illegal, unethical, or improper conduct in the workplace. Most companies collapsed because of corruption and we do not want to become victims as our economy depends on diamond.  Since this initiative started we have registered 194 cases but only 99 were found to be true and we reported them to DCEC,” said Modise

In his keynote address, former director of DCEC Tymon Katholo said the theme called on people to be active participants in identifying and uprooting unethical practices within their organization.

“Employer-employee partnership in this regard is indeed a vital strategy and has proved to be the most cost effective means to sustainable ethical practices and uncover misconducts. However majority of these crimes in Botswana remain undetected resulting in financial losses to companies and eventually to the detriment of all their employees,” he added

GALE