06 Apr 2014

Letlhakane market stalls which have been closed for some years will be advertised in the near future after renovations for potential occupation by small businesses.

Boteti sub district council senior assistant council secretary, Mr Motshwariemang Matseka has anticipated that the stalls were likely to be ready for use by September.

Mr Matseka added that the stalls were closed after the tenants failed to pay monthly rentals and end up abandoning them. 

The stalls were rented to the public at a very low price of P100 per month in order to help Batswana find market for their goods and services, earn a living and help diversify the economy of the sub district, he added.

Mr Matseka said the stalls were closed at interval times in the past three years because as the individual tenants failed to pay monthly rental fee and some even disappeared without a trace as they never informed council of the intentions to close down stalls.

He also disputed that the monthly rental of P100 was too high for some of the small business to afford and as such resulted in them defaulting monthly rental adding that council did not even intend reducing the fee after re-opening the stalls as the charge was affordable.

He added that most Batswana were reluctant and they were not willing to help government in empowering the nation, all they want to be fed with everything and not giving back.

Mr Matseka said when the stalls re-open unlike in the past where there was no stipulated period of occupation; the new tenants would sign a contract which would expire after two years upon which the tenant would have to surrender the stall to the council for re-advertising.

He added that the previous tenant would still have the opportunity to bid for it again.

Under the new contract, if a tenant defaults they would have to pay, he said.

He said outstanding balance owed by individual tenants at the closed stalls ranges from P2 000 to P3 000.

Mr Matseka who was not quite sure how much they were going to spend to renovate the stalls said they were still to access damages.

Also, he said they would allow any business to utilise the stalls except manufacturing and catering.

When asked about the stalls at the new Letlhakane bus rank, Mr Matseka said they were so far running smoothly even though there were some tenants who illegally acquired the stalls for the sake of generating income.

He said some stalls at the bus rank were not being utilised for the intended purpose as the tenants rent them out to other small businesses while others were used as store rooms and charge them a higher fee in order to make profit.

Mr Matseka has however urged Batswana to cooperatively work government towards achieving the Vision 2016 pillars.

He said the stall were rented at a low monthly charge to make it affordable to the majority of the struggling small business who did not have land or space to market and sell their products and by so doing contribute positively to their livelihoods while in the long run help diversify the economy. ENDS