24 Feb 2013

The Assistant  Minister of Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Dr Gloria Somolekae says People Living With Disabilities (PWDs) will be automatically enlisted in the poverty eradication programme.

Addressing kgotla meetings in Tobane and Tshokwe recently, Dr Somolekae said PWDs would not have to go through any assessment procedures to qualify for the programme.

She said the reason behind the move was that government realised that in most instances, PWDs failed to utilise government empowerment programmes.

She noted that when President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama assumed office, his main objective was and still is to eradicate poverty, restore dignity among needy Batswana and empower them so that they could take care of themselves.

She said due to this, poverty eradication became a flagship programme that was intended to provide basic needs of life such as food, shelter and clothing.

“The programme started off with back yard gardens because government saw the importance of eating healthy and nutritional food such as vegetables,” she noted.

However, she stated that due to the fact that some homesteads did not have stand pipes to water their gardens, government introduced the alternative packages under poverty eradication programme.

“In regard to alternative packages, people could start micro businesses to support their families. Projects under the programme included horticulture and small stock production such as poultry, goats and sheep rearing,” she said.

She also stated that in an effort to eradicate poverty, government embarked on another flagship programme known as the Economic Diversification Drive. She said through the programme, government purchased locally manufactured goods as well as locally produced food to empower Batswana.

“Government institutions have been directed to purchase field produce for schools from locals and locally made handicrafts among other things,” she said.

She gave an example stating that if ‘Tswana’ breed poultry owners in an area could form a syndicate and start a sizeable poultry project to market and sell their chickens, they could reap high benefits.

Furthermore, she added that some people could group themselves and start bakeries to provide schools in their areas plus local consumers with bread.

Mindset change, she noted, was critical for the success of all poverty eradication initiatives.

On other issues, Dr Somolekae went on to state that the Ipelegeng development programme was meant to alleviate people from poverty. However, she noted that the programme was only meant to help people graduate from poverty and it should not be taken as permanent employment.

She said in 2008, Botswana was affected by world economic recession which impacted negatively on the sales of diamonds and ultimately the whole economy. She said the government had to withhold roughly 400 development projects under the National Development Plan.

“From 1966 the country’s economy was doing well with budget surplus through income made from diamond sales. When the recession took place it affected diamond sales making Botswana gain little revenue which gave birth to financial constraints,” she said.

This, she added resulted in government utilising some funds from the  reserves until they ran low.

“Ultimately the government had to get loans from the African Development Bank and the World Bank to continue procuring services and some development project regarded as vital to the country’s economic development,” she said explaining that this drove the country into a deficit. ENDS