03 Dec 2014

Born 40 years ago in Tshwaane village, Ms Kebitsang Balatlheng could not make it to the respected doors of high school, thus she led a difficult life of unemployment depending on her husband for survival.

Ms Balatlheng never took it lying down though as, today, she leads a better life after teaming up with four other women to start up a business. 

Through the Rural Industries Innovation Centre (RIIC)’s the five women secured a Kgotetso Oven to start a baking business in 2010. 

She said members were all active until others started to be lazy, but, as she did not want poverty life again, she worked very hard alone to make the business what it is today, even though at the end of the month she shares dividends with her partners.

Ms Balatlheng said they had contract with Letlhakeng Sub-district council to supply Tshwaane Primary School with bread though they also sell to residents. 

They supply cookies five days a month to the school which she said is the backbone of the business.

She said RADP did everything to assist them including the buying of stock in Molepolole. 

All they are tasked with is to find firewood.

Tshwaane Primary school head Mr Malackie Mello commended the group for the good service they render saying that the bread they give to school is well cooked and big as compared to the ones he has seen in other schools.

Mr Mello said the bread was brought well on time and if there was water crisis they offered the group the water from school’s Jojo tanks as they always report such instances on time. 

He said all was done in this way because there was good communication and good cooperation between the two parties.

According to Ms Sedimme Jeremiah, of RADP, who has recently been transferred to Mochudi village, Tshwaane, Khekhenye, Kaudwane, Diphuduhudu, and Sorilatholo, were under Remote Area Development Programme in Letlhakeng. 

She said those were the areas where Basarwa are found, adding that the areas were assisted through local Economic Empowerment and Affirmative action.

Ms Jeremiah said each year they budgeted for what she termed as RAD Pprojects. 

Through these projects, they were able to assist the settlements with facilities to a stage where they have what other villages have.

The projects established are economically empowering to those communities citing Kgotletso Ovens for bakeries in all those settlements, fashion design, co-operative and the newly introduced Poverty eradication though she said there are other projects at the Ministry of Agriculture which are also aimed at assisting the villages.

Ms Jeremiah said the RADP projects were strictly for Tshwaane, Khekhenye, Kaudwane, Diphuduhudu, and Sorilatholo in Letlhakeng Region. 

She said her department assisted through positive discrimination and affirmative action whereby if there was a job post in such villages and there was somebody there who qualified, that identified person was automatically given that post without having to apply.

She also added that if there was any tender supply such as government food rations in the said villages, it was not contested by outsiders as it is automatically given to the villagers.

She continued to say this was done to develop these Remote Dwellers villages to have their life standard uplifted to levels of non-Basarwa villages citing examples of Bakery which is needed by almost every village in Botswana. ENDS