14 Apr 2013

Government has promised to pay remote area service allowance (RASA) to civil servants working at Lesilakgokong in Kweneng District, President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama has said.

President Khama was responding to Kgosi Onkgomoditse Monnawathebe of Lesilakgokong during a kgotla meeting last week. The village leader had complained that civil servants in his village were denied the allowance while their counterparts in Kotolaname were being paid.

That alone, he said, was a worrisome trend because the concerned employees had long been given empty promises. Kgosi Monnawathebe further decried lack of water in the village.

In response to the complaint about water shortage, Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, Mr Kitso Mokaila said there was enough water in the boreholes that supplied the village.

He said blamed shortage of water on residents from neighbouring ploughing fields whom he said watered their livestock from the same boreholes.To control the situation, he said, Water Utilities Corporation was installing prepaid metres in the village to monitor water usage.

On other issues, Village Development Committee (VDC) chairperson, Ms Serwalo Nthapalla complained of shortage of transport for social workers in their area.

She said the shared vehicle they used had since been boarded by Central Transport Organization (CTO). Ms Nthapalla also cited shortage of accommodation for government employees as some of the challenges they faced. She also noted that Landboard was slow in allocatoing residential plots.

Responding to concerns raised, Kweneng District council secretary, Mr Wadza Tema explained that Lesilakgokong, Kotolaname and Moshaweng would now be serviced by one social worker who would in the not so distant future, relocate permanently to stay in one of the three villages.  ENDS