29 Jun 2015

The Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Frans Van der Westhuizen has asked the residents of Ramokgwebana not to think that government has neglected them, but to rather understand that the effects of the economic downturn have not completely worn off.

In a kgotla meeting that he addressed recently, Mr van der Westhuizen called on the residents to understand that the little that government had could not meet the needs of all Batswana.

He said it was for this reason that not much that had been planned for the District Development Plan (DDP) 8 and National Development Plan (NDP) 10 had been achieved.

He also informed them that from the kgotla meetings that he had so far addressed, he had noted that the concerns raised by Batswana were cross-cutting and not peculiar to just their district.

On a different matter, Mr van der Westhuizen told the residents about the proposed review of the Matimela Act. He said one of the reasons that had informed the proposed amendments was the need to relieve local authorities of the burden of managing the issue of stray livestock.

He explained that one of the suggested amendments was that the duration of time the councils had to keep stray livestock before being auctioned off be reduced.

Earlier when presenting the report for the Village Development Committee (VDC), Ms Ellen Machola had raised a concern over the shortage of resources such as transport for use by public officers in their village.

Underlining the severity of the situation, she had told the assistant minister that there was no ambulance at the local clinic, saying patients needing to be referred to the district hospital had to be transported in a van.

Ms Machola also complained about the shortage of classrooms at Ramoja Junior Secondary School, indicating that the situation was so bad that some classes were being taught outside.

During comment and question time, the residents raised concerns about how the issue of stray livestock was being handled.

She said it did not make sense to be taking about stray livestock when the animals, in particular cattle had ear-tags which bore their owners’ personal information such as contact details.

She said such identification on animals should be used to trace the livestock owners; observing that the way the issue of stray livestock was being handled would only serve to impoverish livestock owners.

Mr Diboyce Mathe also dismissed the issue of there being stray livestock, concurring with other speakers that the contact details on ear-tags should be used to identify and trace livestock owners.

He said if the issue continued to be handled the same way, many people would lose their livestock, and end up entangled in poverty. ENDS