16 Feb 2015

Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Ms Botlogile Tshireletso, has called on public servants tasked with Rural Area Development Programme (RADP) projects to speed up service delivery.

Speaking at Southern District consultative forum on February 12, Ms Tshireletso said a paradigm shift was necessary for public servants to effectively and efficiently serve the communities.

 She said it was very critical for public servants to speed up service delivery in executing their daily duties to improve the quality of life and living standards of people living in far-flung areas.

She said delays had the potential to stagnate rural developments geared towards improving the livelihoods of rural communities. Also, she stated that delay might discourage intended beneficiaries to venture into projects envisaged to uplift their lives. 

She said teamwork and collaboration were critical for people working together with the same goal and intent to improve people’s lives to ensure government’s efforts in assisting targeted beneficiaries do not retrogress. 

She expressed concern that destitute houses under RADP in the southern district were lagging behind despite availability of funds, and urged implementers to take advantage of those funds to finish projects on time.

Ms Tshireletso also stated that all projects should be done and finished on time so that they could benefit rural communities rather than use lack of funds as an excuse for projects delay. 

She further stated that she had made efforts to speed up rural development by awarding tenders to residents of those areas. She also advised that those awarded tenders should pull up their socks and ensure that they do projects of high quality to complement their purpose.

She said in the next three years, her ministry aims to build more houses for the disadvantaged to rescue people from abject poverty. She urged council chairpersons to visit areas where there were projects to get firsthand information with regard to their progress.

 Ms Tshireletso also applauded southern district saying it was doing well in formal employment through affirmative action, adding they should proliferate from where they left in the 2014/15 financial year.

She said as people grow, they should leave behind a legacy and called for a productive and industrious nation for the benefit of all Batswana.

For his part southern district council chairperson, Mr Mephato Reatile said public servants should do more to ensure that they create good names for themselves and get a pat on the back from the minister. Mr Reatile said all stakeholders should come on board and embrace the affirmative action by affording communities living in far-flung places special treatment in employment. He said they should be enlisted into the army, police and elsewhere where their services were needed. He said most ranches in Ramatlabama were idling and urged government to give people funds through the programme to utilise those farms by practicing pastoral farming. ENDS