18 Mar 2015

The Kweneng District Council (KDC) has decided to tackle unemployment as a priority area in its agenda for the new financial year.

The council chairperson, Mr Jeffery Sibisibi said this in his address of the KDC this week. He said in their efforts to fight unemployment and poverty, the council would develop new strategies. 

One such strategy, he said, was to make use of a ranch that the council has just been allocated at Loologane.   He said the ranch would benefit remote area dwellers residing around Loologane. Another plan was to establish a game farm in Kaudwane with the intention of creating employment at the grassroots level.

Mr Sibisibi explained that remote area dwellers in the two farms would be capacitated in hospitality and ranch management and book keeping so that they could be in charge.  The initiatives, he said, would eventually be rolled out to other villages within the district.

On other issues, Mr Sibisibi raised concern on the bad state of schools in the district, saying after 103 schools had been inspected, many had structural defects with toilets in an appalling state. 

He highlighted that such a state subjected pupils to various hazards.  He, however, said despite the situation, the council could not maintain all schools at the same time because of financial constraints. He explained though that the council would strive to ensure that a sizable number of schools were provided for in the recurrent budget for maintenance annually.

The chairperson also noted with dismay the poor performance of schools in the district. He said schools continue to register poor results. 

He noted that 5 590 candidates sat for their primary school leaving examinations in 2014, and that only 512 obtained grade A, 810 grade B,  2 211 grade C, 1 255 grade D while 298 cadidates got grade E and four ungraded. He said junior secondary schools and senior secondary schools have also recorded a decline in performance. 

Junior secondary schools recorded a 34.78 per cent pass rate, a decline of 0.97 per cent compared to 2013. He also noted that senior secondary schools performed badly with Mogoditshane senior recording a 28 per cent pass rate and Kgari Sechele senior recording 15 per cent.

He challenged councillors to come up with initiatives geared towards the involvement of the community and parents in improving the situation. Mr Sibisibi further announced that the service hall at Mafenyatlala Mall would open its doors to the public on the 1^st of May.  The service hall would be a one stop customer care centre. ENDS