26 Aug 2015

Good Hope Sub-district council chairperson, Ms Maobene Molefe has expressed concern at the slow pace of implementation of the poverty eradication programme under the Ministry of Agriculture.

Officially opening the Good Hope Sub-district council on Tuesday (August 25), Ms Molefe said she was disappointed at the way the programme was slowly implemented due to late disbursement of funds and limited transport.

Ms Molefhe said as at April 2015, 236 poverty eradication projects for small stock and Tswana chicken had been implemented while 232 beneficiaries were still awaiting funds to be availed from the ministry.

Following the inception of the Livestock Management and Infrastructure Development in 2010, Ms Molefe said 3 884 applications were received and only 1 266 were implemented while others were still awaiting assessment, screening and adjudication.

The sub-district council chairperson also expressed concern at the way village development committees kept flouting Ipelegeng programme regulations by not rotating suppliers and beneficiaries as the regulations dictate.

“This is defeating the programme intention of trying to empower many people, and we should all be involved in making sure that this programme achieves its mandate,” she said.

She said the programme has been an ideal tool in the council’s quest to eradicate poverty. Since the beginning of the programme in 2014/15, she said 8 460 beneficiaries have been engaged and that 2 402 of them were young people.

Ms Molefhe also hailed the Ipelegeng sustenance initiative that provides tea break snacks to beneficiaries. She said 351 suppliers have been engaged with 304 of them being women and 47 men while 42 of them were young people. She revealed that over P1 million had been spent on the initiative.

On the water situation in the district, Ms Molefe expressed disappointment that the Good Hope Sub-district was still experiencing the challenge of inadequate water supply. 

She said the district water authorities have put in place short, medium and long-term initiatives that were intended to augment water supply in the district.

She added that the first phase includes the upgrading and commissioning of the Good Hope tank and Pitsane mains.

 She said the second phase would shall cater for the remaining 22 villages and would be interconnected as an extension of the first phase. Ms Molefe noted that despite efforts by Water Utilities Corporation to supply water in the district, there were some who thwart such efforts by stealing diesel engines at boreholes.

Diesel fuel, she said, was also not spared by the culprits during the ploughing season as they use the diesel to fuel tractors. She said to curb the problem, the corporation moved diesel containers to secure places while consultations with the community was ongoing to stop the vandalism.

She added that such cases have been reported to the police for investigation, and that village elders have been notified. She also urged community members to be vigilant.

She cited the non-functioning of prepaid standpipes as one of the worrisome issues. She, however, indicated that sourcing of replacement parts was ongoing with the supplier to repair.

“Some stand pipes are damaged by villagers, and I would like to urge village leaders to monitor the situation and encourage the communities to look after this equipment at all times,” she said. Ends