27 Sep 2015

Boro residents in the Maun West constituency have been urged to utilise their land to earn a living and contribute to the economy.

Addressing a kgotla meeting, area MP, Mr Tawana Moremi, said the residents possessed land rich in natural resources hence they should venture into tourism.

Mr Moremi also urged the residents to desist from selling their land as that might create problems in future. Instead, he said, they should forge partnerships with investors to establish income generating projects.

Mr Moremi said people as far as Gaborone, Maun and surrounding villages were willing to be allocated plots at Boro because of its tourism wealth.

He advised residents to protect their natural resources and make use of them to improve their lives.

He appreciated that some residents were forced to sell their land because of economic reasons but advised such people to instead lease or use government programmes to engage in arable farming.

Mr Moremi warned the residents if they continued to sell their land they would end up landless.

He appealed to them to work closely with community trusts since they could help advise on how best to utilise their land.

The MP said traditionally, communities depended largely on cattle farming but frequent Foot and Mouth Diseases (FMD) outbreaks were a setback. Mr Moremi said some farmers were not happy about low prices at Botswana Meat Commission hence the need to look for alternative markets.

He said for almost seven years now cattle farmers had nowhere to sell their cattle except to local butcheries who, given over supply of animals, offered low prices.

For their part, the residents welcomed the idea of venturing into tourism especially that there was little citizen participation.

They said they were not benefiting from the delta despite making efforts to look after the resource.

The residents complained about hardship because of lack of employment opportunities save for the Ipelegeng programme which unfortunately absorbed few people.

Earlier on, Kgosi Motswagole Mokgwathi of Boro decried lack of developments in the village such as roads, electricity and water hence hampering them from benefiting from government programmes.

He said most youths who applied for government assistance had not been successful.  

Village Development Committee chairperson, Mr Olatotse Pusoetsile, requested government to increase Ipelegeng quota because hiring only 21 people was way too low. He also called for amenities such as a clinic and school noting that the settlement should be now recognised as a village given its population.

In response, MP, Mr Moremi informed residents that their settlement has been included under Maun Development Planning area which means they would be serviced from one budget. ENDS