19 Aug 2015

Lobatse Town council mayor Ms Malebogo Kruger has told residents of BMC/Maokaneng ward in Lobatse that from the half a million pula that the council received, nine out of 10 houses were built for destitute persons.

Addressing a kgotla meeting to update residents on the progress made so far on the developments in the town, Ms Kruger said Lobatse Town Council was also building 12 houses for Lobatse teachers, as well as maintaining some of the primary schools in the town.

Maitlamo Primary School has so far been maintained and Peleng, Hill and Ipeleng Primary schools were still in the maintenance plan.

Ms Kruger also informed residents of the 2015/2016 Ipelegeng plan which she said would carry out 63 projects, and as such, had increased the number of employees from 771 to 821.

She also updated residents on the Milk Afric project aimed at tackling shortage of milk and milk products in the country, adding that there was progress so far on the project as the operational area had already been fenced and was likely to be in operation before the end of next year.

Ms Kruger also told residents that the Self Help Housing Agency (SHHA) loan had been increased as well as the turnkey loan which has been increased from P60 000 to P90 00 while the SHHA improvement loan has also been increased from P45 00 to P60 000. 

She said the loans were still interest free and repayable within 20 years without failure.

She encouraged residents to visit the social welfare offices for more information on various government programmes availed to Batswana to help them improve their lives and those of their families.

Earlier, BMC/ Maokaneng Ward Development Committee (WDC) chairperson Mr Ace Segwagwe was grateful of the meeting, noting that it was the first to be held since the elections last year.  However, he complained that his committee has long requested for office space but have not been given any response.

He added that all other WDCs have plots except the BMC/Maokaneng ward. 

He said his committee had also requested the council to give them the Maokaneng Park to use it fruitfully.  He also said they were concerned about the abandoned BMC plots.

A representative from Companies and Intellectual Property Authority in the Ministry of Trade and Industry Mr Kairirirua Murangi said his organisation deals with registration and protection of companies, businesses and trade marks.

He said there had been an improvement in the process of registering companies in which anyone could just register the company without a need for a consultant like before. 

He however said people were advised to have a company secretary within three months after registration.

Mr Murangi said it takes four days after payment, for the registration of a company to be completed whilst a trade mark takes longer because it involves checking out with other countries.

However, Mr Murangi said there were challenges that the companies faced, such as clients neglecting their companies after registration and not renewing their trading licences after expiry. 

He said a company should be renewed annually with a minimum of P300 to reserve it failure to which a penalty of P900 will apply.

For her part, BMC/Maokaneng councilor Ms Tinny Dinoko thanked the residents for voting for her. 

She also thanked  the council for responding to her request to hold the meeting with the residents.

Ms Dinoko urged the residents especially the youth to make use of the government programmes to better their lives and stay out of bad habits. She was concern about the youth who misbehave around the Maokaneng Park and pleaded with the council to hand over the park to her Ward Committee to use for hosting events. Ends