27 Aug 2014

Kgosi Buendasi Mbenga of Goshwe has complained that promises which were made during the President’s last visit to their villages have not been fulfilled by the relevant authorities.

Kgosi Mbenga said during a kgotla meeting addressed by their Member of Parliament, Mr Edwin Batshu on August 26. He lamented that for a long period, they had been complaining about the bad state of the road connecting them to their main service centre, Tutume.

During the President’s visit, he added, they were promised that their road would be graveled on a quarterly basis until such time that government would have secured funds to construct the road using bitumen.

He further pointed out that residents were also promised that the bridge that many of farmers in the village used to cross to their fields, which was destroyed by heavy rains will be repaired together with culverts, which often overflew. However, he explained that nothing had happened to date and noted that no communication is forthcoming from relevant officials.

He questioned why they were given empty promises and wondered if this was only done to please the President. The village development committee chairman, Mr Molebi Rebobonye said all public standpipes in the village had been closed down without any communication or consultation with the village leadership.

This, he said, had left many in dilemma, particularly those who had not installed water taps in their homes. He, therefore, said it could have been better if the Water Utilities Corporation could have communicated with them so that they come up with suggestion to at least leave just a few which could be used by residents who cannot afford to connect water in their homes.

Responding to the concerns, Mr Batshu said the maintenance of the graveled roads in the constituency included the Goshwe/Tutume road which will done as promised, noting that they have received a schedule on when all the roads will be graded starting from next month.

He informed them that their road was not included in the National Development Plan 10 (NDP 10), but however, said he hoped that it will be included in NDP 11. He nonetheless urged them to remain hopeful that developments will come to them and reminded them that they will not get everything they wanted at the same time.

Meanwhile, residents also complained that poverty eradication beneficiaries were forbidden from working for Ipelegeng upon being given packages for the projects. This, they said, was making life difficult for the beneficiaries as they are terminated before they could even make profits.

They suggested that they should rather be given some time to establish their businesses before they are removed from Ipelegeng. Ends