24 Sep 2014

The Mayor of Gaborone, Mr Haskins Nkaigwa says there is backlog of over 8 009 people awaiting assessment to be enrolled into the poverty eradication programme.

Mr Nkaigwa said since the inception of the programme, the Gaborone City Council (GCC) has received more applications for participation in the programme. 

Addressing Gaborone full council meeting on Monday September 22 , Mr Nkaigwa said the council has been able to train beneficiaries of poverty eradication programme in both business management and technical skills for various projects.

This training had an enrolment of 355 participants from the five Gaborone constituencies and projects ranged from hair salon, tent hire and laundry services.

Up to date 986 people have benefitted from the programme and this record showed an increase of 629 people who had been assisted as at the beginning of this year, he said.

At least 61 beneficiaries come from Gaborone West South, 72 from Gaborone West North, 172 from Gaborone South, 67 from Gaborone Central and 157 from Gaborone North, he added.

“I am informed that most of the projects are showing progress and some beneficiaries managed to pay schools fees for their children, buy food for their families as well as continuing to sustain their project by continually purchasing stock for their business,” he said. 

Mr Nkaigwa said the city council received P2 5 million from the Ministry Local Government and Rural development in July 10, 2014 being payment for technical training and purchasing of equipment and materials for beneficiaries in the five constituencies. 

He also thanked the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Church for their efforts in upgrading the status of the Gaborone civic hall through painting. The church expended over P45 000 in this benevolent effort, he added. This gesture, he said, came at time when the council had taken a decision not to hire out the hall to customers due to its poor state.

The mayor said due to this generosity, the council can now hire out the facility. In addition, he said the SDA Church held an International Health Expo and presented on wellness initiatives that the council is struggling to provide and were offered at no cost. 

On other issues, the mayor said the city council has been fairly able to provide psychosocial support service to vulnerable people through case work, group work, community development and social safety nets.

Mr Nkaigwa, who delivered a 22-paged speech which took almost an hour, said this quarter there are 1819 beneficiaries who are registered and assisted by the council with different social safety nets and these included 188 destitute persons, 382 needy students, 35 children in need of care, 35 Home Based Care patients and 1179 orphans. 

He said there had been an increase of two per cent from 1783 to 1819 beneficiaries when compared to the previous first quarter of 2014/15. However the enrolment rate on social safety nets, he said, was minimal as majority of clients wanted to be self-reliant as they opted to request assistance under Poverty Eradication (Alternative Packages Programme) instead of asking for food rations.

Mayor Nkaigwa acknowledged that this was an indication that empowerment programmes were bearing fruits, thus an ultimate reduction of those dependent on social safety nets. 

Regarding the case work, he said during this quarter, the council attended 281 cases which were reported as compared to 194 cases reported and attended to in the previous quarter, an increase of 45 per cent of cases. Of these reported cases, he added child welfare issues were leading by 63 per cent while 37 per cent were civil cases.

About 51 per cent of clientele this quarter was female, adding that child custody continues to be at peak and attributed this to public education of the community on the rights of the child and awareness on the Children’s Act of 2009.

The GCC has conducted three orphans and caregivers’ workshop to empower them with skills and knowledge on the children’s rights and issues affecting the psychological being of orphan children, he said. To strengthen service delivery, he said, training of 25 social workers and nine caregivers was also incorporated at Ark and Mark Trust Camp in Motlhabaneng. 

Councillors heard that council continues to provide empowerment to individuals, families and the community to sustain their life and enhance socio economic status. Council provides textiles and clothing training at Gaborone West Community Hall and has produced trainees who are tested and certificated by Madirelo Training and Testing Centre (MTTC), he added.

In June 2014, 16 trainees were tested an MTTC and one received a distinction, six credits, while the other six received a pass and only three failed. Free short training was offered to the three who did not do well as well as testing them for certification of the trade. 

Mr Nkaigwa paid tribute to his fellow councillors of the role they played in executing their different mandates. He them well in their future endevours and reminded them to pray to Almighty God to have peaceful, free and fair elections on October 24, 2014. He further implored all registered Batswana to vote wisely.  ENDS