02 Jun 2015

South East District (SEDC) is beginning to experience market saturation for the poverty eradication component of alternative packages, the district’s principal officer for development, Ms Kgomotso Kesianye told a council full session recently.

Ms Kesianye said although some of the beneficiaries were not able to sell or operate, her office would continue to monitor the situation and projects. Nonetheless, she noted that enrolment in the alternative packages increased from 122 to 170 in the fourth quarter of the 2014/15 financial year.

She added that the number of operational projects dropped during the same period, adding that some projects which were not functional impacted negatively on employment levels. 

She added that a total of 98 alternative package programmes were not operational, adding that the project type most affected was food catering with 34 projects non-functional, followed by tent hire with a total of 17 projects dormant.

With regard to local empowerment, she noted that during the same quarter the district was unable to support local business as none of the tenders valued were awarded to local businesses.

Ms Kesianye added that a total of 15 tenders were awarded valued at about P9.2 million and that locals could not benefit due to unavailability of businesses or companies with the capacity to undertake some of the projects.

Further, she said the LIMID programme enrolment stood at 811 but noted that the implementation remained a serious challenge for the district at 48.3 per cent, adding that the unavailability of small stock was still a challenge country wide.

The district principal officer for development said the ministry of agriculture was looking at addressing the problem. Mogobane Councillor Sisimogang Abram decried that the majority of the youth financed programmes under the Youth Development Fund were not repaying their loans.

He blamed the situation on the training which he said was not adequate to address challenges that come with running a business.

Councillor Abram called for closer monitoring of the YDF funded projects so that they changed the lives of young people.

Councillor Kgabo Mabotseng of Magopane ward said the current shortage of water was not good for the backyard garden initiative as it cannot bear fruits; as such, he called on the government to review the programme to determine its effectiveness in changing the lives of the beneficiaries. Ends