12 Oct 2014

Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), Ms Botlogile Tshireletso says she was able to achieve her assignment with diligence because of Minister Peter Siele’s good mentorship. 

Speaking during a farewell dinner hosted for the three ministers of MLGRD, Ms Tshireletso said upon being appointed to the cabinet and joining the ministry, she was assigned to oversee the development of dwellers of 67 remote areas under the Remote Area Dweller Programme (RADP).

According to Ms Tshireletso, her achievement came about because Mr Siele gave her unlimited time to visit all the RADs communities so that she could appreciate and familiarise herself with challenges affecting such settlements so that necessary socio-economic action could be taken.

She confessed that work under RADP is difficult as one has to have enough support from the political wing and civil servants, whom in her case were committed and always at her disposal to carry out all assignments.

The assistant minister, who will be contesting once more for Mahalapye East constituency, noted that part of her achievement came because of civil servants, whom she profusely thanked and encouraged to keep up the good work. 

Ms Tshireletso, who was accompanied by her daughter, who she regards as her best friend among her family of two boys and a girl, expressed delight that council staff and ministry’s secretariat were able to provide her with answers to give to both Ntlo Ya Dikgosi and Parliament.

Speaking at the same occasion, another assistant minister, who will also be vying for Tlokweng constituency, Mr Olebile Gaborone said he has come to learn the length and breadth of this country after he was appointed to cabinet over one and half years ago. 

Mr Gaborone said he has come to appreciate difficulties faced by council chief executives and district commissioners in rural areas as they work under challenging conditions.

He however thanked both Minister Siele and Ms Tshireletso for mentoring him and making sure that he learnt the ropes given that he was clueless about the ministry operations.

Meanwhile, Mr Gaborone said time keeping in the public service is still a daunting task which needs to be addressed if the public service is to improve its service delivery and keep with the ever changing times. 

“Punctuality should never be compromised and as a leader you should never make yourself too important for the people because you are there because of them,” he advised.

Mr Gaborone, who has a background from the private sector, further said civil servants and any other people committed to serving the nation should be result orientated and should not be scared to point one another’s mistakes regardless of public status so that service is not compromised. 

According to Mr Gaborone, his ministry has the best educated and skilled personnel, but it is not performing up to its optimum expectation and as such called for everyone to up their game to improve service delivery. He suspects this could be due to attitude and poor work ethics. 

Giving welcome remarks at the function, which was attended by council executive leadership, political leadership and senior government officials, permanent secretary in the ministry, Mr Boipolelo Khumomatlhare, who was earlier hailed by Minister Siele for his good leadership, said it has come to his attention that the implementation of the Poverty Eradication Programme was slow in some areas.

He also said there were over 1 100 vacant post in the ministry, which need to be filled so that service delivery could be attained. 

He also decried that the second primary school meal feeding programme was not going well in some areas in the districts. 

He was however optimistic that most of these problems would be overcome with team work. 

Nonetheless, he thanked the three ministers for their positive contribution in the ministry since they were appointed. ENDS