12 Mar 2015

President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama has assured residents of Shorobe in Ngamiland District that water crisis in their village would be addressed.

President Khama was responding to complaints made during a kgotla meeting he addressed this week. Some residents had stated that since the Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) took over water supply services from water affairs, the shortage of water in their village became the order of the day.

The President said countrywide, WUC was being accused of failing to provide communities with adequate portable water.

He assured the residents that he would take up the issue with the relevant minister and see how best the situation could be improved noting that the need to dig more boreholes or increase bowsing vehicles would be explored also.

President Khama also explained that the decision to relocate all water services to WUC was meant to separate water resources management from water service delivery so that one body (WUC) could be responsible for portable water and waste water services and the other body (water affairs) for water resources and management.

Earlier on, Maun WUC manager, Mr Moitseemang Manthe had explained that initially the village had two boreholes one of which collapsed last year; hence the other one was not supplying adequate water for the village.  He said efforts had been made to supply water through boswers to augment the existing borehole.

He also pointed out that a project was ongoing to supply Maun and the surrounding villages with portable water noting that phase one would be completed end of this year to deal with the shortage of water at Shorobe once and for all.

On other issues, President Khama urged the department of wildlife and national parks to come up with control measures of fishing in the district, saying they should issue area specific licenses, otherwise failure to control fishing could deplete fish which is a source of living for most people in the area.

He said Kgosi Molatedi Dingalo had complained about the influx of fishermen and squatting in his village to the effect that they were experiencing similar problems encountered at Lake Ngami.

He said Shorobe was a tourist destination and that challenges brought about by fishermen such as untidy environment could affect the tourism sector. President Khama told the residents that fishing at Lake Ngami was suspended because residents were not benefiting due to the influx of foreigners at the Lake. 

He said the decision was meant to come up with measures that would protect the lake and promote fishing industry to benefit Batswana.

Meanwhile, public servants were urged to address kgotla meetings in villages they served in because that would give the communities a chance to air their concerns as well as to give public officers an idea of their needs.

Residents complained that civil servants hardly visited their village hence there were more pending issues. They appreciated government programmes such as Ipelegeng and poverty eradication but complained about the delay to receive the necessary materials to start their projects. 

Some said they had been long assessed and trained in 2011 yet they had never received their packages.  ENDS