12 Aug 2015

The Southern District Council senior assistant council secretary, Ms Keitumetse Moilwa has urged Logagane residents to utilise the donkey cart given to them by Orange Botswana for the benefit of their children. 

Speaking at the donation ceremony, Ms Moilwa said the government introduced the initiative after realising that most children travelled long distances to and from schools. She added that  Orange Botswana offered to sponsor some villages with donkey carts.

She said the rationale was to assist pupils travelling more than five kilometres with any mode of transport to help them get to school in time. She added that travelling such distances resulted in children getting tired hence low concentration and low performance in their studies.

Ms Moilwa added that the council had been offered one donkey cart which was given to Good Hope Sub District Council after a series of consultative kgotla meetings for consideration of the placement of the donkey cart. She said Logagane was chosen to receive the cart, adding that the community should consider themselves lucky.

She said the gesture calls for a cordial working relationship between the community and the government, adding that the community was requested to volunteer their donkeys with a compensation fee equal to that of Ipelegeng employees.
  She also urged parents to be cooperative and to bring pupils on time so that they could be transported to school on time.

 She said all the selected pupils were expected to assemble at the kgotla as agreed to avoid delays.

Earlier in his welcome remarks, Kgosi Wilfred Seleka of Logagane said he was honoured by the donkey cart launch though it was accepted after a struggle of mixed feelings by the community. 

He said even though people were living in modern times where they have changed from using donkeys or walking to using vehicles, they could not reject the gift as it might bear them fruitful results in future.

He said the donkey cart could only carry 10 pupils, and that assessments would be made to select the stipulated number. He added that younger pupils were likely to benefit.

He, however, said the donkey cart might be affected by the drought as donkeys might be hard to maintain and scarce to be found when needed.

For his part, Hebron Village Development Community (VDC) chairperson, Mr Walker Kegakilwe said he was thankful for the initiative which would help Logagana pupils to get to school safe and on time. 

He appealed to council members to request for another donkey cart to accommodate more pupils as the current one only accommodates 10 pupils and that there were more than 10 pupil in the village.

The initiative also aims at protecting pupils from harsh weather conditions when going to and from school.

Other reasons for the initiative were to bring services closer to the people, empower locals as well as instil the spirit of self-reliance amongst communities. ENDS