15 Jun 2014

The outgoing North West district commissioner, Ms Bernadette Malala who retired on June 6 has thanked Maun residents for their hospitality.

Bidding the residents farewell at a kgotla meeting recently, Ms Malala who retired after 39 years in the public service, said during her entire tenure in Maun, she felt welcomed and worked well with residents.

She had first worked in Maun in 1984 as an agricultural demonstrators’ co-ordinator before serving as district commissioner in the same village for nine years from 2005 to 2014.

In an interview, Ms Malala said she had achieved a number of milestones in the district such as introduction of officiating weddings at the kgotla which was not a norm before her arrival.

She said taking services to the people initiative was one of her initiatives, as well as the one vehicle per village initiative which she said focused on re-distribution of the available resources instead of concentrating them in one area while other villages had none.

However, she noted that the North West District was challenging, especially due to lack of resources such as transport and said the area remained vast. 

Lack of accommodation, she acknowledged was one of the distressing issues which led to high numbers of vacant posts because people either refused to work in the region or those who agreed to work there were demoralised by the transfer issue.

Meanwhile, Ms Malala said she managed to work in the district with those who agreed and disagreed with her and said she rose above petty issues and remained focused. ENDS