The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Is it my car?

I bought a car from a dealer in Mogoditshane for P20,000 cash in November 2025 but they refuse to give me the blue book. They told me that the lady who owned the car gave it to her ex boyfriend to sell it and the ex boyfriend gave it to the garage. The lady is pretending that the ex boyfriend did not gave her the money. So the lady refuses with the blue book,

I reported this to the police and Consumer Authority but nothing happened. They say that the garage is out of CIPA.

This problem sounds quite complicated, but in fact, the opposite is true. Very often in situations like this, the person selling something, such as this vehicle, tries to distract the customer with too much information about what happened behind the scenes. But that’s their problem, not yours. The simple truth is that you paid this dealer P20,000 for a vehicle that they have not actually sold to you. We all understand that until the blue book has been updated the vehicle is still owned by the previous owner, not by the dealer and not by you.

But that’s not your concern. You paid the dealer, not the woman or her ex-boyfriend. I suggest you go to the Small Claims Court and ask for an order against the dealer for a complete refund of the P20,000 you paid. Please don’t allow them to distract you from this. It’s their business, not yours.

The only complication is that the Competition and Consumer Authority is correct. CIPA did deregister the company in August last year, but I have the details of the director.

Where’s my lawyer?

I need your advice. I have a case of unfair dismissal at the industrial court of Botswana. The case was registered in 2018 and I was represented by a legal insurance policy. Now this is my problem. The insurance company handed my case to a law firm to represent me and all along I have been in communication with the law firm regarding the case and they have been telling me the case is still waiting to go for trial. Early this year when I enquired about the case from them they told me they are no longer handling the case and had informed the insurance company. I went to them for a status update and they told me that indeed the law firm wrote them an email last year September to the effect that they were no longer handling my case. Surprisingly they are in the dark as to why and worst still they are in the dark about the status of my case or even my case files. It's been a month now since they told me they will follow up with the law firm and update me accordingly but they are not doing so. I need your advice on the issue.

I’m sorry to hear about this. However, when I contacted the insurance company they gave me some more information that you had failed to disclose. Yes, you did have a legal case registered in 2018 and the legal insurance company acted on your behalf and instructed attorneys.

What you failed to mention is that you haven’t paid your insurance premiums to this company since 2019. Is it any surprise that after seven years of no payments the insurance company isn’t prepared to help you? Is it surprising that the attorneys won’t act for you any longer, because they haven’t been paid for seven years?

I think the only thing you can do in the situation is to contact the relevant court and see if the action the attorney started on your behalf is still active. However, I suspect it won’t be.

It’s important to remember that insurance companies and attorneys and almost every other type of company only work for us if we pay them. They don’t work for free.