04 Mar 2015

Kweneng District Commissioner, Ms Utlwanang Kerekang has called for the establishment of good relations between government departments and the communities they serve.

Speaking at the kick start of a week-long initiative dubbed “Taking services to the people” by the Letlhakeng Sub District at Diphuduhudu on Monday, March 2, Ms Kerekang said the existence of such relations between the two organs will ensure any challenges that hamper service delivery are addressed in time.

She said the Village Development Committees (VDC) should be powerful enough to be able to meet government departments half way and be able to engage even the highest authorities to address the people’s needs.

Ms Kerekang said that it should be a concern that such connection between the VDC and offices of authority was missing. 

On the initiative of taking services to the people, Ms Kerekang appreciated the effort by the sub district and said it was bound to have some hiccups as it was a new development.

She however, expressed confidence that any challenges would be ironed out with time. 

She said Diphuduhudu was one of the five villages chosen because of its distance from the major service centres.

Such distance, she said, was a challenge because of daily hindrances like lack of transport money and lack of physical ability to travel long distances especially by elders and other physically challenged individuals.

In his welcome remarks, Kgosi Shaluka Dipina of Diphuduhudu also appreciated the effort by the departments to set up a one day stop centre in his village, even though he decried the absence of some vital departments. 

He called on the authorities to post a social worker to his village, saying the current officer was living with disability, which made it difficult for him to go around the village on a daily basis. 

He also complained that the place which was meant to bring all poverty eradication projects under one roof was dilapidated and had not been used in a long time, hence hampered progress of the projects.

He said there were still some youth who had been trained in various trades, but were still loitering the streets as they had not been assisted with equipment. 

Thus, he called for more housing for civil servants in his village, especially police officers.

In his closing remarks, Cllr Ontatlhile Selatlho of Ngware also appreciated the effort of bringing services closer to people, and advised that such an effort should be kept going and not be a once off thing.

He also decried lack of resources for civil servants, saying that may lead to the misconception by the community that they were unproductive.The Letlhakeng Sub District will be taking services to various villages, including Kaudwane, Salajwe, Tsetseng anmd Khekhenye. ENDS