31 Aug 2015

Botswana Insurance Holdings Limited (BIHL) has donated P1.5million to the Presidential Housing Appeal.

Presenting the cheque in Gaborone on Friday (August 28), Botswana Life head of individual life, Mr Moletanye Tshosa said BIHL has an undying passion to provide services that give Batswana dignity.

He said it was for this reason that they support the Presidential Housing Appeal that houses needy members of society to give them dignity. He said part of the BIHL Trust was to identify projects that need financial support, hence they felt they should support this noble course and make a mark in helping the needy. He said BIHL was not about making profit, but to assist Batswana by offering products and services that enable them to invest and save during bereavements.“Saving removes Batswana from destitution,” he said.

Presidential Housing Appeal board member, Mr Paul Paledi said the appeal to house the needy started five years ago, and that they have been able to build 100 houses per annum. He said they have built 510 out of 520 houses they were planning to build. 

He said they were targeting to build 3 000 houses countrywide, adding that the donated P1.5m would be used to build five houses in Kgatleng District.

He further noted that the housing appeal board does not decide or identify the recipients, and that the decision to house the needy were not done along political lines. He said the mandate to decide the recipients was given to Social and Community Development officers in the districts as they know the residents better.

Mr Paledi further said they have decided to make donors part of the project by making them participants during construction in order to appreciate the work. “We therefore invite Botswana Life to participate during the groundbreaking ceremony in order to interact with recipients,” he said.

The coordinator of government reforms, Ms Goaba Mosienyane said President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama, through the housing appeal, has provided a vehicle for philanthropists within the country to touch and transform the lives of the needy members of society. Ends