02 Jul 2014

The Vice President, Dr Ponatshego Kedikilwe has urged residents of Foley to start sustainable projects that will have a positive impact on their lives and help develop the village.

Dr Kedikilwe said was addressing a kgotla meeting at Foley on June 30 where he also bid farewell to the residents as he will be retiring from office following the October general elections.

He advised residents to setup a Foley Development Trust that would drive and oversee the village projects. He said through the development trust, projects would bring income and create employment for villagers.

He also advised the residents to also consider establishing a cooperative, saying they had helped bring developments in many villages around the country and also created employment.

Dr Kedikilwe further encouraged them to work together to have an entertainment or recreational hall to host events in the village. He said youth and the village at large could utilise it to hold events and raise funds.

Regarding sustainable projects, he gave an example that at Zhutswa in Kgalagadi District, residents started a development trust that was pioneering a project dealing in salt while in Mogobane; residents started an irrigation scheme to uplift their livelihood.

“Government is always on standby and ready to assist Batswana to start viable and sustainable projects to uplift their lives,” he said.

The Vice President stated that government had set aside some land to start agronomy projects around recently constructed dams in the region which included Dikgatlhong, Thune and Lotsane dams.

He said 600 hectares of land around the dams had been reserved for Batswana to venture into irrigation agriculture. He called on residents of Foley and Batswana as a whole to apply for land around dams to start horticulture projects. He explained that government spent P5 billion to construct all dams.

Dr Kediklwe further indicated that government would in near future source out water from the Chobe River to provide water for agriculture projects in the Pandamatenga area to produce food and improve food security.

He said government has engaged in negotiations with seven countries in the region to start the project to source water from the Chobe River. 

He said the design of the project has been completed.

Dr Kediklwe mentioned that government was the process of setting up stringent laws that deal with livestock that destroy farmers’ crops. 

He said the motive being of the law was to curb irresponsible behaviour by some farmers who were ignorant enough to let their cattle destroy people’s field crops.

He explained that government has injected a lot of funds in ISPAAD scheme for farmers to produce food. However, in some instances funds from the programme have gone to waste due to livestock which destroyed people’s crops. 

He said with the law in place, tight penalties were expected to motivate farmers to take care of their livestock and herd them to avoid gaining access to people fields and destroy crops.

Dr Kedikilwe further called on agriculture offices to speed up the payment of tractor owners who ploughed people’s fields through the ISPAAD programme. 

He said government had received numerous complaints by tractor owners that their payment had been delayed.

He said some reports indicated that sometimes the GABS system or electronic system used to make payments either failed due to unavailability of computer network. 

He called on relevant authorities assigned the task of paying tractor owners to process the payments manually if they faced challenges with the electronic system.

Dr Kedikilwe also pointed a finger at farmers and tractor owners who take their time to register which also has a negative impact and delays processes for payments.

He explained that in the Tonota sub-district, P550 203 is owed to 252 tractor owners in the region. 

He said throughout the country, 5245 tractor owners were engaged to plough fields for farmers at a tune of over P11 million. He informed the residents that President Lt. General Seretse Khama Ian Khama has also expressed concern of late payments to tractor owners and has called for speedy payment processes.

On other issues, the Vice President noted that government was in the process of auditing land in the country. 

He said all plots countrywide will be numbered and also indicate who the plot belong to.

Further Dr Kedikilwe mentioned that President Khama and South African

Dr Kedikilwe revealed that he met South African President, Mr Jacob Zuma earlier on and discussed issues among them compensation of Batswana who worked in mines in South Africa back in the days. 

He said the process was ongoing. 

He explained that the Commissioner of Labour in Botswana is set to go to South Africa to do a follow-up on the issue so that the former miners from Batswana could get compensated. ENDS